Lex's Tail
by Before I sleep
Summary: Somethings not right with Lex, Will's little brother's best friend, and everyone thought they knew what. But it's a lot more complicated. Is there other magic Mako has in store? REVIEW PLZ! I have a bad description and name. couldn't think of anything...
1. Preview

NOTE: Okay, this is pretending that they never graduated, Mako never exploded, and Will's sister never happened. I've actually gotten really far in this story, and I'm just working on a lot of errors and rewrites. So this is just a small preview of it. Also, if you one of those people that just read the first chapter and judge a story, might as well just read the next chapter. Also, this part has a lot of mistakes, I accidently pressed the ignore button on changes... whoops. Won't happen again.

ENJOY

Were so psyched you guys are home!" Will, Elliot's big brother, said.

"We're psyched to be back!" Elliot beamed. This was as excited as I've seen him in monthes.

See, we go to a boarding school year round and were finally finished. Were going to Will's school now to be in this new excelerated learning program they're testing. There's going to be 16 of us that will go to every class together that are all two years ahead of our grades. Not that that's a problem. Our old school didn't have any benefits of a year round school. We barely have anytime off. We only had 6 days for Christmas and New Years.

"So you guys swim?" Will asked. One of the good things about our boarding school. Were right on a lake and Elliot and I swam a lot. Of course Will would ask. He's training to be a professional deep sea diver and swimmer.

"Swim?" I asked "We dominate!"

"Yeah!" Elliot added.

"We'll see about that." Will said smirking.

"Oh we'll see all right" I said. "We'll see."

"Feeling competitive today, Lex?" Will asked

"Today?" Elliot said "Try 24/7."

"Standing right here…" I pointed out

He grinned at me, and I couldn't help but smile a little, too.

"Welcome home" Will said as we pulled up to the house.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

I dropped my stuff in my room and quickly found the first swimsuit I could I peeled of my clothes, threw it on and started to run down stairs. Elliot makes fun of me when he finishes first because he says that girls take more time to change. So I make a point of proving him wrong. But as quickly as I went, he was still waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a smug look on his face, when will appeared down the stairs behind me.

"You ready to go?" He asked. But we were already running for the pier.

"Okay," Will said when we got there "Whoever gets to the island over there wins." He paused for a second "And, no I won't go easy on you."

"Gotcha." I said

"Can we go now?" Elliot whined.

"On your marks, get set-"

"WHOOOOOO!" Elliot interrupted while diving in.

"I'm going to kill you!" I screamed jumping in after him.

After that, I let my mind go blank. Elliot fell behind and all of a sudden it was just down to me and Will. Elliot hates long distance and I could feel him pouting behind us. Soon, I could even see the island. I start to sprint, but Will beat me to it. I just barely finished at the same time. We both crawled out of the water and collapsed, panting.

When we had finally both gotten our breath back, Will started to talk.

"You're fast." He said, still breathing heavily.

"Elliot's just as fast," I told him. "But he gets a little too excited when it's a competition and uses all his energy in the first 5 minutes." Before Will could respond I heard a voice.

"Ummm, Will?" I turned around to see a blonde girl. "Who's your… friend?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Umm… I'm going to make sure Elliot's okay." I said. Who was this girl? I would have stuck around to find out if it wasn't so painfully awkward. I knew Elliot was fine, but I would use any excuse to get away.

I jumped back into the water ignoring the faint voices behind me. It wasn't long till I found Elliot. He stopped swimming and started to tread water with me.

"You good?" I ask him.

"Yeah," He responded, slightly confused. "Why did you turn around? You never turn around."

"Um well… Will sorta has a… girl with him."

"What?"

"Some girl just walked up behind us and started talking to us."

"And you, being the people hating person that you are, used me as an excuse to leave." I nodded. "Well, boy do I feel loved."

A few minutes later we were back at the Island where Will and that girl were waiting. She looked a little guilty, and I was starting to wonder if running off was my best move. As soon as we got out of the water they rushed over to us.

"Hi," The girl said. "I'm Bella, Will's girlfriend. Sorry, I didn't realize he had a little sister and brother." She stared up at him looking kind of annoyed. I noticed that Elliot made the "Caching" motion, to say, "SCORE! THAT GIRL IS HOT!" I elbowed him.

"Hi, I'm Alexa." I said quietly

"But we call her Lex," Elliot said. "By the way, I'm Elliot."

"Hey I gotta talk to Bella" Will said. "Why don't you explore a little bit, and we'll come back with the boat"

"Okay…" Elliot said and looked at me, the look that said, "Let him have his alone time with the chick." It's sort of sad in a way that I knew him well enough to know exactly what he was saying. He just did in a way I couldn't smack him for saying it.

Then, Will picked her up and walked away with her, eventually getting far enough away till we couldn't see.

"She looks JUST like you." Elliot said.

"No she doesn't!" I protested. We went into the forest and walked around. I couldn't believe how beautiful this place was. There was all types of plants and trees and flowers, and I little river, that just barely tumbled over some rocks. We started to jump across when the serenity was interrupted.

"HOLY CRAP!"I heard Elliot scream as I watched him fall in between some rocks and down a peculiar hole.

"HOLY CRAP!" I yelled back.

"EVEN HOLLIER CRAP!"

"OKAY I GET THE POINT!" I yelled down the hole. "CAN YOU GET BACK UP?"

"NO!" I heard him yell. "BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THERES A WAY OUT."

"I'M COMING DOWN!" I yelled

"NO-" But I was already down. "-Don't." He finished.

"Too late." I sighed.

"Well, now what?" He asked.

"Um, the way out?""

"Yeah, that was you throwing down a vine or something."

"But what's that over there?" He looked over to where I was pointing.

"Oh." He simply said.

"You boys are SO stupid." I said sarcastically while grinning at him. He suppressed a "Haha." Look. We start walking, and it wasn't long till we were in some underground cave. There was a pool of water at the edge and when I looked up.

"Omigod, are we-"

"In a… volcano?" Elliot finished.

"Omigod." I repeated. "Whats with the pool?"

"Maybe there's a way out through there!"

"Worth a shot." I said as we both dove in. We swam until we came across an opening at the bottom. Elliot looked over in my direction, worried that I couldn't hold my breath. I nodded and he looked away. Finally we saw light and swam up to it. We started to tread water and catch our breath.

"I thought that we were never supposed to move toward the light." He said dramatically as if we were about to die.

"I thought you weren't supposed to watch anymore prissy chick flicks where they actually used the term 'move toward the light'." He glared a little. I hadn't noticed it was already starting to get dark.

"Common, Will's gonna be here any minute." Elliot said.

"Lets not tell him about this, okay?"

"Okay" He said, sighing. We swam back to the shore and waited. I don't think it was even a minute before Will got there.

"Went swimming again?" He said looking at our soaked hair and suits.

"Yeah." Elliot answered.

"We had a blast." I said.

"Well are we going back home are not?" Will asked. We both loaded into the boat and went home.


	3. Chapter 2

Ever since I woke up that morning- well I wouldn't call it waking up seeing that I sort of don't sleep- I was thinking about that stupid island. There was just some sort of charm it had, an inviting eeriness. If that makes any sense at all, which I'm fairly certain it doesn't.

And it doesn't help that Will now thinks I'm crazy. I started grilling him with questions and I never got a straight answer. Pretty much all I learned was that it was called Mako.

But as much as I hated to admit it, I knew that there was one thing that might ease my mind. Going back. At least I knew I wouldn't have to do it alone.

"Lex, really?" Elliot whined.

"I know you don't wanna get out of shape" I said smirking "It won't be long till I can swim circles around you."

"Yup, still not convinced. You and I both know that could NEVER happen." I groaned in response.

"What if we use the boat?" I asked

"Fiiine." He sighed. "But first can't we explore a little?"

"Fiiine." I mimicked.

The rest of the day we went around looking at shops, seeing the beach spots, the usual touristy things. When we were done we stopped by a little café Will had suggested, because his friends owned it. It didn't surprise me when I saw the blonde gi- Bella with two girls huddled in at a table in deep conversation. She saw us walk in and she stared at us while she was still talking.

I tried to ignore her, and Elliot didn't seem to notice, so we got in line and ordered juices and sat at a table, where the girls approached us.

"Hi, we met. I'm Bella Will's girlfriend?"

"Oh, hi." I stammered. I noticed one of the girls staring at me intently.

"These are my friends, Rikki" She said motioning to a curly haired blonde girl, the one that had been staring "And Cleo." She said motioning at an overly-peppy and smiley brunette.

We talked a couple minutes longer and then Rikki looked at her watch and pulled them away. It was a quick goodbye, I figured they were in a rush. It still was kind of rude, I felt myself disliking Rikki more and more. I couldn't tell why, but there was just something about her.

As we walked out I continued to pester Elliot

"Can we go now?"

"Are you really gonna make me go?"

"Yup." I answered "Put on your suit first, because were going to swim through that little opening."

"Of course we are." I didn't know why he was acting like such a sourpuss. We've always gone on little adventures and things and he's always loved them but ever since we….

"Hey, I'm leaving; I'm meeting Bella and her friends." Will said, interrupting my thoughts as he walked out of the house.

"Rikki and Cleo?" Elliot prompted.

"Ah, so you met them." He smiled

"Yup." I answered plainly

We said goodbye and we walked into the house and got changed. By the time we were ready it was dark.

Elliot knew not to try to convince me to not go, but we both knew that was never gonna happen. We both got changed, He wore swim trunks with a t-shirt and I wore a suit with a towel dress on top. We walked out to the dock where the boat was. Elliot looked troubled

"Why don't you wanna go?" I asked

"It's just that, I don't know. There's just something not right about that place. It felt… unlucky or something."

"Unlucky maybe, but compelling? Definitely."

"I dunno…"

We got on the boat and road off. I had an anxious jittery feeling, and I just couldn't contain myself. I realized we were being awfully quiet, and I began to wonder why. Had we run out of things to talk about? Nah, if we did we'd just tease and taunt each other. Did we run out of things to tease each other about? Definitely not. Suddenly we were at Mako and my mind went silent.

"Ready?" I asked. Elliot nodded and we both jumped in. We knew exactly where we were going. It wasn't long till we came to the opening. We swam into the pool and looked around. It was still as stunning as before

"Wow." I breathed. No answer. "Elliot, what's really going on?" he sighed.

"I just really don't like it here." I jumped out of the pool onto the sand and stone, He followed. We both sat.

"You and I both know that's not all."

"It is, now drop it." He said sternly. Hurt, I remained silent. It was a long few minutes that no one talked; Elliot was the one to break the silence.

"Did we just come to look around?"

"Yup, pretty much."

"Fun."

"It's not like you were expecting much anyways."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I didn't answer. All I did was look him in the eye, "Fine, I'll tell you. Lex, things have gotta change. Soon schools gonna start and were not gonna have time for our little adventures."

"I know, but can't we enjoy them while we still can?"

"Not if were being secretive about it."

"You're annoyed cause I didn't want you telling Will." Elliot turned to me.

"I never see him. When we went to boarding school I knew that I would never get to grow up with him, but now we have a year together then he graduates and it's his turn to go. I want to enjoy this year with him."

We kept talking after that, I don't really remember exactly what about, just unimportant chatter. I got up to leave, and he stayed in place, waiting for me to go first.

Without thinking, I dived in head first and took my time to get to the surface. When I got over water Elliot was looking at me with a horrified look on his face.

"What?" I asked

"There were bubbles and, and, and they like, like rose up and there was this white light and and and…" His voice trailed off.

"Thanks for sharing captain crazy."

"But, but, but didn't you see?" I shook my head "But, but, but…"

"But what?"

"Never mind." He mumbled, falling back into his moody mind set.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked impatiently.

"I guess." He dove in and we were off.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

When I woke up it was awfully quiet. I guess I was used to the chatter of the dorm rooms. I got (or fell or slid…) out of bed. I walked downstairs to find Will at the table, his hair still wet from his morning training.

"I don't know how you get up every morning and do that."

"That?" Will asked.

"Swimming." I said. Will smiled a little.

"I dunno, I guess when you find that one thing that you love to do, there's just no question if you're gonna do it whenever you can."

"Maybe."

"Hey, maybe you'll have that too someday." I shrugged. "Hey where's Lex?"

"Holy crap!" I started to run.

"Wait, Elliot don't bother her!" I kept running, when I got to the door.

"You don't just go into a girl's room!" I opened the door and ran to the bed.

LEX'S P.O.V.

"LEX!" I woke up to Elliot screaming. I shot up out of bed, and then fell back to a halfway position, propping myself up with my elbow. I held my hand on my head, realizing I had a huge headache. It took a second to sink in that…

"How long was I out?" I said in panic.

"Not long." Elliot turned to Will, who I just noticed was standing at the door. "Umm… can you give us a second?" Will politely left, closing the door on his way out.

"What this time?" Elliot said. Usually, when I actually slept, I woke up in a cold sweat screaming. But this time…

"Nothing." I said "I mean, I don't remember anything, no screaming, nothing besides the headache… nothing."

"What? No that can't be. That never happens!"

"I know, I'm just as lost as you."

"But, but…"

"Yeah, I know." I said. "I'll get changed, you go cover with Will. I'll be down." His face dropped when he realized he would have to cover, but he agreed and left the room sullenly.

I got up off the bed and walked into the bathroom. I took an advil for my headache and splashed some cold water in my face I looked in the mirror for a second and I realized that something was different and then, well I can't really explain it there was bubbles and haziness, and then I was on the ground. With. A. Tail.

"What the…?" I whispered to myself, horrified. I looked at the… tail. It was orangey and scaly. Then I realized I was in a bikini top and then it all came together and…

"I'm a friggen mermaid?" I whispered frantically. How? What? I mean… what? It didn't make any sense. It didn't add up I mean…

"Mako!" I whisper yelled. Then I remembered that Elliot might hear me…

"Elliot…" What was I supposed to tell him, that an island made me a mermaid? … Or was I not supposed to tell him? It occurred to me then. I couldn't tell anyone. No one could know. I grabbed a towel down from my rack and tried to dry my… tail, if that was the correct term for it.

When I was all dried off, it was gone. I was a normal, plain as day, human. I got to my feet and I realized what the change was in the mirror. My blue eyes were now purple.


	5. Chapter 4

I had been avoiding him all day. Him being Elliot, of course. I ran out to a costume store to get colored contacts. I mean what kind of freak has purple eyes? I left quickly and walked slowly, dragging out the time till I would have to face him again. Not because of the whole eye color thing, but because of the… tail. I mean, what if he wanted to go swimming? How well could I swim with this tail thingy? Or what if he spilled water on me, or, or…

I decided to ease my mind with some music. I put on my headphones and sat on my bed, humming along quietly so to ensure I would drown out my thoughts.

It was sort of nice to have all this time. I bopped my head back and forth and tapped my toes, to a point when I was shaking the bed.

"LEX!" or that was Elliot shaking the bed. I opened my eyes and took my head phones off and answered him with a look. Then he answered me again with a smirk.

"Did I interrupt your jam session?"

"Yes," I said "As a matter of fact you did."

"Whoops"

"Whoops is correct." Then he grabbed my IPod and ran out of the room with it.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" I screamed at him jumping off my bed and sprinting behind him.

"COME AND GEEET IT!" He yelled back. He ran outside. I stopped running and reluctantly walked outside. I knew where he was headed. The pool. He had already taken off his shirt and left it on a chair with my IPod by the time I got out. Then I walked over to him the same time he started running into a jump into the pool.

From there, it all seemed to happen in slow motion, but it all went so fast. He jumped into the pool, and the splash was huge. And I got hit. I couldn't think. I ran. I don't know how I did it but all of a sudden I was… changing form in the powder room, just barely getting the door closed in time.

"Lex? Are you okay?" Someone said. It wasn't Elliot. It was Will.

"Y-y-yeah I'm… fine" I stuttered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Tell Elliot I'll be out in a second" I listened for him to walk away and then sighed deeply. That was close. Too close. I looked down at my tail thingy. I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to think about this. That it'll just go away? How could it not? Will I be stuck like this forever? It was horrifying.

And what about Elliot? What about swimming? I had to know more, but how could I find out anything with Elliot around? I dried off and turned back. I went outside and tried to quickly grab my ipod and avoid being seen by Will and Elliot, who were goofing off in the pool. Elliot spotted me, jumped out, and followed me inside.

"I didn't mean to splash you, I'm sorry-"

"It's okay" I said trying to keep my distance from him, seeing he was still dripping wet from the pool.

"Come swim with us, I'm sure Will want's to get to know you." I turned to him and looked at the ground.

"That's okay, I just want to listen to my Ipod." I couldn't look him in the eye, I just couldn't. I didn't need to see the hurt expression on his face, I knew what it looked like. So I just ran up stairs, and didn't look back.

I decided I would go swim tonight. In the ocean, to test what I could do. I kept my distance from Elliot, and tried to completely avoid Will, and it was really akward. I knew that it looked like I was unhappy here, which I wasn't, at least I wasn't before the change.

Finally, it was dark, Elliot had gone to bed and I made my move. I changed into my suit and walked outside and on to the dock and dove in.

WILLS P.O.V.

"So mako tomorrow, at noon?" I asked Bella on the phone. She agreed. Then I heard foot steps.

"Bella, wait a second." I whispered.

"Will, whats going on?" I put down the phone and looked for the closest weapon. I found a metal pole and picked it up. I looked out the window to see who was there. I saw a girl. She dove in to the water and when she resurfaced she had a tail. It was Lex. I put down the pole.

"Bella, I've got some news."


	6. Chapter 6

I couldn't stand it any longer, Elliot was an emotional wreck. His moods ranged from depressed, confused, annoyed, and angry. All week he wanted to swim. All week I said no. All week he wanted me to go to the beach. All week I said no. All week he wanted me to go to Rikki's with him. All week I said no.

And it wasn't just him I was avoiding, it was Will. He knew something. Every time he saw me he looked at me weird. He tried to talk to me, but every time I made an excuse, left, or ignored him. Yeah, I know it looks bad, living in someone's house because my own parents didn't care enough to take me in, and ignoring all of the people in the house.

I couldn't take it any longer, I caved.

"So there's a party at Rikki's tonight, you guys should come." Will said. "Bella's gonna sing." Elliot looked at me desperately for approval.

"Sure, sound's like fun." I said, giving a tight smile. Elliot looked surprised for a second, then happy for a second, and then confused. I could tell why.

So we went that night. I knew I had to be extremely careful. I had a small towel in my bag, just in case. I made a mental note to stay away from all the drinks in case of spillage.

"This is cool." Elliot said when we walked in.

"Yeah" As promised, Bella was on stage, singing with her band. She had a pretty voice and I listened carefully.

"_I thought I'm the girl with everything_

_But I wanted you_

_To really matter…"_

"Want something to drink?" Elliot asked.

"Nah, I'm good." Elliot left to get a drink, when Will walked up to me.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Will asked. The song ended, and I let him lead me outside, where the sun was dimly shining, getting ready to set.

"You've been avoiding me and Elliot all week, is something wrong?" He asked. I wasn't sure how to respond to this. Something was DEFINATLEY wrong, but I couldn't tell him that. Luckily, Bella and her friends saved me.

"Hey," Bella said "What are you guys up to?" Rikki sighed.

"Let's cut the crap." Rikki said, annoyed "We know what you are." Crap. I faked a look of confusion

"Rikki!" Cleo elbowed her.

"Ummm… that I'm what exactly?" They all looked at each other.

"Look, Lex, I saw you jump into the water. Can't we just make this easy?" Will said. I refused to give in.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." And then it happened, for the first time. I started seeing something; I fell to my knees in agony, clutching my head.

I saw the moon pool. I saw Bella, Rikki, and Cleo, all in pain. The image changed. I saw the forest around Mako, and a fire, and a boy walking toward me. I couldn't tell who he was, I couldn't see his face… and then it was gone. All the pain and all the images were, too.

When my eyes refocused, I saw Elliot.

"Lex?" He said worriedly. "What happened?" I couldn't speak.

"Elliot, you should take her home." I got up, still baffled by what had just happened.

"What happened?" Elliot asked the very second we were out of earshot. He turned to me with a sincere look of concern.

"I can't even explain it, I was talking with them and-"

"That's not what I meant," He said "Why did they want to talk to you."'

"Well, Will asked to talk to me and he brought me outside and then hid friends came over and we were talking and then the thing happened."

"Okay, thanks for telling me where you were going." He said "now the thing that happened."

"It was like one of my dreams, but clearer and more painful." Elliot sighed in response. He didn't ask any more questions. He could sense the fear and utter confusion in my words. He then said the only thing in the world that he thought would make me feel better, that made me feel worse.

"Wanna swim?"

"I don't, but I'll go out side with you. I just don't wanna get my hair wet" He gave me an unsure look, but decided to ignore me and went upstairs to put his suit on.

I went outside to the pool to wait for him. It was now dark, and the half full moon reflected off the water's shiny surface, leaving a whitish glow.

"Are you sure you don't wanna swim?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Because you don't wanna mess your hair up?" I nodded. "Well what if you don't get your hair wet?"

"Well…"

"I thought you wouldn't have a reason." He smirked and walked toward me.

"Elliot, what are you doing?"

"You'll see." He still smirked. And then he did it. He picked me up.

"Put me down!" I cried as he got ready to throw me in to the water. "Stop!"

From there, it all happened in slow motion. Without thinking, I forced my hand into a gripping position, aimed at the water and tightened all my muscles. He jumped in while carrying me. I was horrified. Now what? I closed my eyes hard and waited to change. Nothing happened.

"I told you you wouldn't get your hair wet." He said, satisfied that he had gotten me in to the pool.

"But, but…"

"Why didn't you want to go in before?"

"It's just that… never mind." We both swam around, and when I got my hair wet Elliot smiled victoriously. To my avail, my tail never came. I smiled, hoping this was all over and I would never be a mermaid again.

We must have goofed off for hours, because by the time we finished I was exhausted. We dried off and said good night. I went upstairs and got ready for bed. I used the bathroom and washed my hands, totally carefree. It wasn't ten seconds later that I was a fish. Great.

WILLS P.O.V.

"I know what I saw," I tried to convince Bella, Rikki, and Cleo. "She's a mermaid, just like you."

"Will, we don't have any way of knowing that." Cleo said.

"But I saw her!"

"Will…" Bella said.

"We don't have any proof, and now she thinks were all crazy. We can't risk her knowing." Rikki said. "What if she tells people?"

"No! She knows just as well as you do that it would be crazy to tell anyone. She hasn't even told Elliot yet!" I was beginning to get frustrated. Why weren't they listening? "And who else would it have been? I didn't see any of you guys, even if it's not her, who is it?

"Will, there's no way of knowing."

"There is, I'll prove it."

LEX'S P.O.V.

There was a knock at my door. I figured it was Elliot and went to go open the door. It was Will, and he did not look happy.

"I know what you are." He said. I didn't answer. "I saw you, just admit it."

"Admit what?" There was no way he knew about mermaids, there just wasn't. So really, I didn't know what I was supposed to admit to.

"Why you don't swim anymore. Why you wont do anything with Elliot anymore. Admit it!" I swallowed hard. I closed my eyes.

"Will…" That's when it hit me. Literally, water hit me. The cool water dripped down off of me. I tried to run into the bathroom, but it was useless, he blocked me. I changed and fell to the ground. Will breathed hard and loudly.

"That's what I thought." He said.

"Don't tell Elliot."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Don't tell him." I said sternly. He sighed.

"Fine." He breathed "One more thing, Bella and her friends are mermaids, too." Then he left.

"Crap…" I whispered


	7. Chapter 7

I was going to figure out how to swim again. I mean swim without a tail, like that night I had with Elliot. I went through all of the variables in my mind. I knew that it wasn't the pool water, because it had changed me before. And I knew it wasn't the time because I had changed then before, too. So what was it? Then I remembered. My hands, hadn't I done something with them? Could that have changed anything? It was worth a shot. I went in to my bathroom and filled the sink up with water.

"Here goes nothing." I whispered to myself. I tried to mimic what I had done that night. Nervously, I put my hand in the water. Then I was on the ground.

"Crap." I reached for my towel, got dry and tried again. I must have tried 10 different things, and every time there was the same result, my tail popping up and me on the ground. I decided to try one more time before giving up. I let my mind go back to that night, and tried to focus on exactly what I did. All of a sudden it came to me, my hands just moved into a position, and it felt so natural, it just had to be right. I put my hand in the water. Nothing happened.

"Yes!" I ran to my closet in celebration. I put on my suit and ran down the hall to Elliot's room. I knocked.

"What?" He asked

"Wanna go swimming?" I heard him jump off his bed and run to open the door.

"Really?"

"Yup."

"I'll be down in a minute." I walked down stairs where Will was at the table eating breakfast.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business." I told him. Will had been shooting me dirty looks and not talking to me. It took a second for him to register where I was going.

"Don't tell him."

"What?" Didn't he want Elliot to know?

"Don't."

"And why shouldn't I?" I admit, I just said it to piss him off. He sighed.

"Please?"

"Relax. I'm not planning to."

"Planning to what?" Elliot said while he walked down the stairs.

"Nothing." I said. I gave Will a final glare and walked outside.

"So where should we go, Mako?

"Sure." We walked down to their dock and I watched him dive in. I was starting to have second thoughts, but it was too late for that. I clenched my fist at the water and dove in. No tail.

We swam around; it was much more relaxed then the race with Will, 3 weeks before. Gosh, did I miss this. Honestly, I mean how could I have not done this for so long? I guess the mermaid thing did constrict this, but still.

We got to Mako and swam back, I focused on my hand the entire time, making sure it didn't leave position; I don't think that I can make the whole sea… whatever I was doing to the water. When we got out I finally relaxed. We got back in side, and as much as I would have like to have rubbed it in Will's face that I was wet with no tail, he wasn't there, I went up to my room and got changed. We planned to go to Rikki's once we had gotten dry.

Then it happened. One of those vision things I had had before, but this one was much more vivid, and this time I could hear it. I was at Rikki's, well outside of Rikki's and I was talking to Cleo, Bella, and Rikki.

_ "We know" _

_"Know what?"_ I listened to myself play the dumb act.

_"Will told us_." Bella said _"Stop playing."_

_"I don't know what your talking about."_ Of course he had ratted on me.

_"Rikki, do it."_ Cleo said at the same time Elliot walked out. She moved closer to me and hastily pushed me. I couldn't move my hand in time, I watched myself change. There was a look of utter terror on Elliots face.

I flashed out of the vision, I found myself on the floor with a massive headache. I pretended it never happened. Elliot was waiting for me.

"What took ya so long?" He said. "Girls take forever."

"Ha ha, very funny."

A few minutes later we were at Rikki's, sitting down at a table. We bought some juices and talked for a while.

"I gotta go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." Elliot said. I wasn't alone for five seconds before Bella and her friends came up to me.

"Can we talk to you for a sec?" Bella asked.

"Sure…" I said resistantly. They led me outside.

"We know" Rikki started. No, this couldn't be. Had I seen the future? No! It couldn't happen like this. Maybe if I changed it then Elliot wouldn't find out.

"You don't know anything." I said.

"Neither do you." Bella said. "Tomorrow night there's a full moon. Avoid it at all costs. Just trust me."

"Why don't you come to our sleepover?" Cleo offered.

"She'd love to." Elliot answered for me. "I can't remember the last time you hung out with other girls."

"But-"

"Then it's settled." Bella interrupted. "Be at my house at 6?"

"Umm, sure." I answered. We said our good byes and we were on our way.

"That should be fun." Elliot said.


	8. First Moon

Hi guys! I just wanted to say, hi. So also sorry it took so long for me to update! But the wait was worth it, theres more then 2,500 words in this and hopefully you'll like it. :)

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

Will decided to personally escort me to Bell's to ensure I didn't make a break for it.

"This is a good thing." Will said. "Trust me." Not like I was listening. I had my IPod in to drown out the sound of his know it all voice. I couldn't help but be angry at him after the way he acted that night. But it was more of a sibling hate, because I guess he basically is a sibling. Was that what Elliot was? I guess I wouldn't really describe him as that. I'm technically adopted so…

"We're here." Will interrupted my thoughts. They were waiting for me. Who has a sleepover before it's even dark? And what did Bella mean about the full moon. Stay away from it at all costs..

"Hi!" Cleo said as her usual perky self. They led me upstairs into what I guessed was Bella's room. This was going to be awkward, I hadn't even been in the house for 2 minutes and I had ended all conversation. We set up our sleeping bags when Bella finally spoke up.

"Rikki, what's going on with Zane?"

"His usual childish mind," She replied. "Can't he take the hints that were over?"

"What a jerk." Cleo said. I think that was the first time I had ever heard her say anything that didn't sound upbeat and perky. I sat there and half-listened. Then it happened again.

I saw myself in Bella's room looking at something. The vision switched. I saw, or re-saw, Bella and her friends near the moon pool. The vision switched again. There was this… tunnel made of… ice? I heard voices, I couldn't make any of them out, but there were surely people there.

As always, I found myself on the ground, clutching my head.

"Lex?" Bella cried "Are you okay?"

"Uhh… ummm" I said, unable to speak.

"What just happened?" Cleo asked.

"Well…"

"Spit it out!" Rikki said.

"Well uh… I don't really know how to describe it…"

"Wait, is this what happened that night?" Bella asked.

"Yeah what was that?" Cleo asked. In a way I was grateful that I wasn't doing much of the talking.

"Well… I sorta saw the future." There. It was out, and I was officially the biggest freak on the planet. A mermaid with purple eyes (which were still being covered by blue contacts) that could see the future. Could it get crazier? For once they had nothing to say. "Don't make me say it again."

"But how is that possible?" Bella asked

"Were mermaids, Bella, anything's possible." Rikki said.

"Well maybe that's her power." Cleo said.

"Power?"

"We all have powers." Bella said. " Cleo can move water, Rikki can boil water, their old friend Emma can freeze water, and I can make water Jell-O."

"Jell-O?" I asked.

"There's really no better way to describe it." Powers? I wondered if my power wasn't… making the water so it wouldn't change me.

"Wait." Cleo said "What did you see?" Crap. I was hoping that wouldn't come up.

"It wasn't very clear this time… it switched a lot."

"What have the other ones been about?"

"Well, I had one about seeing you guys yesterday." They looked at me questionably. "Let's just say it went a lot differently then it was supposed to."

"How?" Cleo asked.

"You guys were planning to push me into the water if I didn't cooperate." Their shocked faces were proof that I was correct. "Yeah."

Why was I telling them all this? I don't even know them! Compared to Elliot they're strangers, and I still just couldn't tell him.

"Hey, I'm gonna go get the movie and the popcorn. Anyone wanna come?" Bella asked. Everyone agreed but me. They looked a little nervous about leaving me alone, but it was obvious that they all wanted to talk about what had just happened.

I put on my headphones to pass the time. I looked around the room, I noticed that all of the windows were covered. For whatever reason, it bothered me. I got up and opened the curtains and looked outside. My eyes went to the ocean, the moon was reflecting on the water, tinting it white. Then my eyes drifted up to the moon.

BELLA'S P.O.V.

"C'mon, there's no way she could have known that." Rikki said.

"Well do you think she would lie about that?" I asked "And really, how else could she have known that?"

"A girl named Bella, a girl who see's the future, this is starting to sound like Twilight!" Rikki groaned.

"I don't think that could be her power though, I mean, it's so different from all of ours." Cleo thought out loud.

"I guess…" I pondered this for a moment "But what else-" I stopped mid sentence when Lex walked down the stairs and walked to the door. "Lex?" No answer. She walked to the door and opened it up.

"Are you coming?" She turned and asked us. We exchange glances. We quickly put on our flip flops and followed her. I got out my phone.

"Hello?" Will answered.

"Will?"

"What happened?" Before I could answer he realized. "Oh no, did she catch some moon?"

"Yeah. We're following her, she just walked outside."

"Okay, stay on the line with me, I'll tell Elliot and we'll meet you down there."

"But doesn't he not know?"

"He has to find out sometime. God, he's gonna be crushed we all know before him." I was sympathetic for Elliot, not having a clue on what he was about to find out, but even more sympathetic for Lex, for not getting to tell him, it's not her fault that we all found out.

She stopped at the water. Her hands moved for some seconds and then it appeared.

"Woah…"

WILL'S P.O.V.

I hate this. Seriously, the kid's going to be crushed. What was I supposed to say? Your best friends a mermaid, but she didn't tell you, but me and all of my friends know?

"Elliot, Lex is a mermaids but she didn't tell you, but me, Bella, Rikki, and Cleo all know." Okay, I guess that wasn't the best way of putting it.

"What?"

"I know, it sounds crazy but it's true. All of them are mermaids, and Lex is in trouble." That got him. We were out the door in seconds. I put my phone back to my ear.

"Bella?"

"Uhh, Will?"

"I don't really know how to explain this. Come to the beach by my house, you'll see."

BELLA'S P.O.V.

This was amazing, I couldn't believe it, none of us could speak. Before our eyes had appeared a tunnel made out of ice. It led us into the ocean, so we were walking in the ocean. It was really cool, but really weird. We walked further, when we started to whisper.

"Whats going on?" I whispered

"Does this mean she can freeze things?" Cleo asked.

"This is just bizarre." We continued to whisper, but I couldn't focus my mind on it. All of a sudden, Lex turned around and held her hand out.

"They weren't invited." She simply said. The tunnel shifted behind us.

"Will." I whispered. I picked up my phone. No service. How typical that there's no reception in the ocean. All we could do now was keep walking, and make sure Lex didn't do anything stupid.

ELLIOTS P.O.V.

_This is all a dream, I will wake up and it will all be over_.

I repeated this to myself over and over. A mermaid? Come on, that's impossible. And besides, we went swimming on multiple occasions, there's just no way. I followed Will to a beach.

"Here we are." Will said. He looked around for a minute when his eyes hit a tunnel.

"Woah." We said simultaneously. We walked in the tunnel, which looked to be made out of ice.

_This is all dream, I will wake up and it will all be over._

"What is this place?" I asked? Will didn't answer. There was a lot more I wanted to know, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask. Then I realized something. Why did they all know about this before me? She was my best friend wasn't she? Why didn't she tell me? Why did she tell Will and his friends?

_This is a dream, I will wake up and it will all be over._

"Wait." Will said. The tunnel shook and an ice wall started forming in front of us, it moved sideways, and without thinking, I jumped through the gap. Will didn't make it. He started banging on the wall.

"Elliot?" He yelled. "Are you okay? Elliot?" I decided not to answer, whoever had decided to block off the tunnel had only known about us because we were talking and making noise. I hoped.

_This is a dream, I will wake up and this will all be over._

I kept walking I went slow, careful not to make any noise.

BELLA'S P.O.V.

The tunnel led to the moon pool, but we still had to swim to get to the edge, but none of us changed. We exchanged looks.

"We're here." Lex said. She got out of the moon pool, before we could get out, she held out her hand. She lifted us up.

"You know to much." She said. She had us in the air.

"What?" I cried.

"You know to much." She repeated, this time louder. She lifted her other hand and directed it toward the water, water came up out of the water and came up around our necks.

"Lex, stop!" I pleaded.

"You were in my way." The rings around our necks got tighter, and we started to get desperate.

"Let me down!" Rikki yelled.

"Lex, this isn't you!" Cleo yelled "You don't have to do this!"

"I do have to do this, we all know it." The rings started to get hotter.

"What do we do?" Cleo yelled to me.

"We have to fight back." I said sadly. Cleo and Rikki nodded. Cleo lifted her hand to control the water.

"My powers won't work!" Cleo yelled frantically. The rings were getting hotter and hotter. I tried to jellify the rings, but it wouldn't work.

"Mine, too!" The rings started getting tighter. "Lex, please! Fight it!"

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon." She looked possessed. She was going to strangle us though. Someone appeared in the moon pool. Will? They jumped out of the water. She looked over to him.

"Leave." She said.

"Lex?" The boy answered.

"Leave!" She persisted. I realized who it was. With every breath I had left, I screamed.

"Elliot, help!" I cried. The rings were starting to boil, scorching my skin. He looked deeply confused. "She's not herself!"

"Lex, snap out of it. Lex, stop!" She froze for a brief second, she started to lower her hand. "It's okay, it's just me, just stop he put his hands on both of her shoulders and looked into her eyes. Then it stopped. The rings were gone and we fell on our butts.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

I looked deep into her eyes and looked for any sign of emotion. Nothing. Then she… woke up, I watched the life flood back into her face, she looked at me for less then a second before falling to her knees, and falling over, passed out.

LEX'S P.O.V.

I was in the moon pool. Elliot was in front of me, and it was peaceful, for less then a second. Then I collapsed.

"Lex?" I awoke to Elliot's voice.

"What happened?" I said frantically. My hand flew to my head, I had a massive head ache. "How did I get here?" Before any one could answer, I had a vision.

I heard a crack, in the water, from the moon pool. And then the vision switched. I saw a tunnel, made of… Ice? In the middle of the ocean, cracking, and flooding, the vision moved down the tunnel, past a big Ice wall in the middle of the tunnel, past the ice was Will, frantically banging on the walls, the water flooding in. He couldn't get out. I watched the tunnel fill, and watched his last breath of air run out.

I snapped out of my dream world. I knew what was about to happen. I scattered to the pool and jumped in. I decided I'd be faster without my tail, and used my power only around me. I swam as fast as I could.

BELLA'S P.O.V.

"Should we go after her?" I asked. Why would she have just left with no warning? Surely she was stunned to be out of her moon phase. Maybe it kicked back in?

"Wait, does anyone know why she holds her head and looks possessed for like a minute?" Elliot asked. "Because its starting to freak me out."

"She had a vision." Rikki said. Might as well lay all the cards on the table now. "She can see the future."

"Then what was so important that she had to leave right now?"

"Wait, did she have a vision?" Cleo asked.

"If that's what that was, then yeah." We heard a crack. "Was that the tunnel?"

"Where's Will?"

"He's trapped." Elliot said while jumping in to the water. My world came crashing down the way the tunnel was. I dove in after them.

LEX'S P.O.V.

Okay, so running off and not telling them what was going on was probly not my best idea, I just didn't know what else to do! How did I even know that this was happening now? Well, I guess the big cracking Ice cave was a bit of a tip off, but still! I was just hoping I was strong enough to handle this without them.

I looked up and down the flooding tunnel for him. I was pretty close to the beach when I heard his pounding, I swam up to him, and boy was he glad to see me. The water was up to his shoulders and he was frantically pushing and trying to break the ice, with no luck. I tried with all of my might to get him free. What do I do? I thought desperately.

I wasn't alone any more. Bella got there first and then Cleo and Rikki. We tried as hard as we could, but we couldn't get the ice to budge. We swam up to the surface to take a breath.

"Lex you have to melt it." Rikki said, panting "My powers wont work, you're the only one who can destroy it."

I swam back under, Will was almost out of air, and it was starting to sink. I had no clue what to do, I wasn't the experienced mermaid here! How on earth could I fix this in a way that they couldn't? I had to try.

With every last smidge of energy, I lifted my hands and tried to fix this. I focused so hard on melting the ice, it just had to happen. I wouldn't let Will die in there. I let my mind take over my body, and released some sort of energy. There was a flash of light, then I blacked out.


	9. Aftershocks

"Lex!" I heard Elliot frantically yell into my ear.

"Let her be, she's had a long night." Will told him. I hazily opened my eyes.

"Will someone tell me what just happened?" I asked weakly. I noticed we were on the beach.

"We'll tell you later." Will said. "Go back to sleep."

"Don't go back to sleep, you know that never ends well." Elliot tried to convince me. I tried to keep my eyes open, but my eyes were heavy and my entire body ached. I knew I would regret it later, but I couldn't help it, I drifted off.

When I finally woke up, I didn't know where I was, or how I got there. What was this, the third time? I noticed I was in my bed. I still had the same headache from the night before and the same aches all over me. What happened last night? I wanted answers, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up. The door cracked open.

"You're awake." Will acknowledged. Elliot walked in behind him.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"That's not important right now," Elliot said. "What happened last month?"

Did he know? Surely he couldn't know, but he was there last night. Oh gosh, if he knows, and I didn't tell him…

"Elliot…" I started.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.

"Elliot, don't do this now." Will tried to console him.

"No! We are defiantly doing this now!"

"Elliot, please?" I pleaded.

"I thought you were my best friend! How could you tell my brother before me?"

"It's not like that… please stop yelling." I just couldn't deal with this right now.

"And all of his friends know, too! You don't even know them! Is there anything else you've been hiding? Is Alexa even your name?" I've never seen him like this, it was horrifying, just sitting here helplessly.

"Elliot, stop it!" Will raised his voice. They left the room. I knew what I had to do. I lugged myself out of bed, took an Advil and got dressed. I walked out of my door. I assumed that Elliot was swimming, something he did to blow off steam, and Will was probably training; so I got out of the house pretty easily.

I walked quickly to Rikki's, trying not to make eye-contact with anyone. I felt lonely, I mean why I wouldn't? I've never had to do anything or go anywhere without Elliot, loosing your best friend, even just temporarily, sucks. I got to Rikki's where Bella, Cleo, and Rikki were all at a table, talking quietly. I noticed on their necks were matching reddish pink marks, that looked like rings. They looked up and saw me.

"Lex, you're up?" Bella said, sounding concerned.

"Uh yeah," I said shyly. "what are those marks around your necks?"

"So she really doesn't remember." Rikki sighed.

"Remember what?" I was curious about this one "You guys telling Elliot about the… tail thing?" They all exchanged glances. They motioned for me to sit and Bella finally filled the silence.

"Well, you know how I warned you to stay away from the full moon?" I nodded " Well I had a good reason for it. When we see the moon, it… posses us. We don't have any control of it. Well last night, you saw the moon, and you fell under its spell. You created this tunnel, and led us through it until it got all the way to the moon pool. When we got there, you told us we knew to much. And the full moon, it gave you powers. And you lifted us up, and I know it sounds really crazy, but you put these rings around our necks, you tried to strangle us, and you made the water really hot."

"Also," Cleo continued the story, "We told Will about you seeing the moon, and he knows all about it so he took Elliot with him, and told him that you were a mermaid, so that's really all he knows. Well anyways, you tried to trap them and keep them from the moon pool, but somehow Elliot got through. He got to Mako, and snapped you out of it."

"Then you had one of your crazy vision things, realized that your tunnel was sinking and almost killed Will." Rikki summed up.

"No, that's crazy there's no way that happened."

"That's not it…" Bella said.

"I'm not going to listen to any more of your lies! You're all crazy; I would never hurt any one like that!" I defended myself.

"It's happened to all of us, the full moon-" Cleo tried

"Great so now were werewolves, too?"

"Well anything's possible…" Rikki muttered.

"Do you have any idea how mad Elliot is at me? For not telling him? And it's your fault! You and Will were the ones that didn't want me to tell him! And now he thinks I care about all of you more, which is definitely NOT true!" I stormed out. I couldn't believe this, I mean it just couldn't be true, I just can't…

"Lex, believe me or not, it happened." Bella ran out after me. "Last night… the full moon it made you lose your tail for a little, but it gave you all these other powers, and-"

"Bella, I don't want to hear this!"

"But there's so much you don't know."

"And there's a lot you don't know either."

"Then tell me!" She yelled as I dove into the water with my fist clenched subtlety, so she wouldn't see. I almost turned around to see her shocked face, but I decided it would be weird. I just hoped she wouldn't… SPLASH

…Follow me. I knew the best way to avoid her would be to swim to the beach and get out. I didn't want to hear more of this "moon" stuff. I swam quickly to the shore; she didn't follow me.

She said that I wasn't a mermaid while I was supposedly under that moon phase, so maybe I could fake not being a mermaid! I mean, how hard could it be? With my "power" no one really needed to know, well maybe one person would be in the loop, that is if he forgives me.

But still what happened last night? I almost didn't want to know, but the curiosity was pulling me and pulling me to get answers. I wanted to resist, but it was eating at me. I couldn't talk to Will; he would either not tell me anything or just defend Rikki, Bella, and Cleo. So I had one more option and of course that option wasn't speaking to me. I guess I'll have to change that. I got back to the house and eagerly awaited Elliot's arrival. By now, he must have gotten tired and came home.

I waited. And waited. I eventually had to go get my IPod to keep me from complete boredom. Where was he? Surely he couldn't still be swimming.

Finally he walked in. He saw me waiting and did this "last person I want to see right now" head shake eye-roll. He turned to walk up the stairs.

"Elliot wait," I called after him, he ignored me. "Please?" He turned around.

"What for?"

"Just hear me out, okay?" I pleaded.

"I think everything's been said already." He turned away.

"Elliot, be mature about this, you have to listen to me, not just them."

"Really, you're the one giving lessons on maturity? You run from every problem that faces you, and you pretend that everything that's wrong isn't happening. And you're a friggen mythical creature, so yeah; you're the mature one here." His words stung, each one of them like a dagger to my heart. I ran up the stairs after him.

"You know why I didn't tell you? I didn't think you could handle it. I was horrified, and I figured that if I told you, you would make it a lot worse. Heck I didn't even think you would believe me. You probably would just convince yourself it was all some crazy dream." Now I was pissed. I walked up the stairs and put my ear buds in, being the one to turn my back on the other for a change. He ran up the stairs ahead of me and yanked the head phones.

"Take off those stupid headphones and listen to me!" He yelled.

"You didn't listen to me!" I stared in disbelief as he threw my IPod on the ground and stomped on it, making sure it was destroyed.

"I would storm off to my room right now, but I don't have anything to do in there." I was still stunned.

"This isn't a joke!"

"I agree, you crushing my IPod is most definitely NOT a joke." I stared down at its remaining pieces.

"Maybe next time you should listen!"

"Well I don't have anything else to listen to."

"Do you have any idea how much it hurts for the one person that you feel close to in the world lie to you? Or have that one person tell someone they barely know before you?"

"I don't barely know Will…"

"Bella?" He suggested.

"I didn't tell them! If you hadn't been so busy swimming in a pool of self pity and crushing my IPod and had just listened to me, you would know that Will found out and told them!"

"Wait… what?"

"Will was in his little dock house thing and saw me pop a tail on the very first night. Then, he and his friends confronted me and I pretended I didn't know anything about being a mermaid and then her got pissed and came into my room and poured water on me to making sure it was true. Happy?"

"Oh."

"Oh is correct."

"Then… can you explain to me… about… mermaid… stuff?"

"I don't know much about… mermaid stuff… but… I'll try."

"Okay."

"The first thing I need to tell you, and I'm telling you before everyone else, is that I can do this thing with water so it won't change me."

"That would explain a lot."

"It would indeed. Something else you need to know is that I can see the future." He looked at me like I was crazy. "Yeah… I have these visions." And right on cue, I fell to my knees.

I saw… something. It was blurry, but I made it out as Mako. I saw a figure, approaching me. I could feel the anticipation boiling my blood, but I flashed out of the vision before anything actually happened.

"Was that one of your visions?" Elliot asked. I flashed back in.

I saw the same thing, but slightly clearer. The figure got closer and closer. But not close enough. I flashed out.

Elliot looked pleased with himself.

"Vision."

I saw the same thing. The person got closer, and the vision was a bit clearer.

"Well," I said when the vision ended. "No more saying the V-word."

"As long as you never keep a secret again, Deal?"

"Deal." I turned to walk into my room but stop mid-step. "Oh, and if you EVER try to destroy an IPod of mine again, I might have to kill you."

He smiled, and bent down to pick up the pieces.


	10. Not Really Human

Hi! Okay, so I haven't been updating recently, and I write all week long, so I'd like to know weather you would rather me put up one bulk chapter or little chapters more frequently. I've been really busy, and I'm going away for X-mas, so I'll be writing, but I won't be able to get anything up online. Just wanted to keep ya posted. Also, ELLIOT IS NOT EMMA'S BROTHER. Just Will's, sorry I reused the name, I totally forgot about Elliot (Emma's little brother) and Elliot is my go to guy name, in fact I'm naming my first son Elliot.

"You can't avoid them forever!" Elliot said as we walked into Rikki's. I can't believe I let him talk me into this. I instantly spotted Rikki, Cleo, Bella, and Will at a table. Did they have nothing better to do? They're always here. I noticed that Cleo looked even more happy peppy then usual.

"Why not?" I said as they spotted me. They got up to greet us.

"Hi!" Cleo said in a chirpy voice.

"Yo." Elliot said. I wished I could say stuff like that without feeling like a complete idiot.

"So are you two… good?" Will asked.

"Yup." I said wanting this entire conversation to be over in less then a minute.

"So my boyfriend is in town for a week before he has to go back to boarding school, and he really wants to meet you." Cleo said. So that's why she was overly peppy.

"Meet?" Rikki laughed. "Apparently meet means run a bunch of tests on you and treat you like a science experiment now."

"Rikki!" Cleo got defensive.

"Umm… tests?" I asked. They have got to be kidding me,

"Well, Lewis is sort of a scientist. He goes to a school in the states, and he's very curious about the idea of someone who sees the future."

Elliot turned and grinned at me, happy that he was the only one that knew about saying the V-word.

"Will you let him run some tests?" Cleo pleaded. "Please?"

"Um… sure?"

"Bad move." Rikki sighed. What had I just gotten myself into? We said goodbye, and I pulled Elliot out of the café with me, wanting to avoid anymore awkward conversations.

"Now was that so bad?" Elliot asked. At that very moment, I had a vision. I saw a shaggy blonde boy. Was he the figure I had seen before? Maybe. The vision switched, this time he was with Cleo, his arm around her, them both smiling the biggest peppy smiles I had ever seen. The vision switched. I saw just the boy, Lewis, looking in a microscope writing things down. I guessed that was one of my skin samples down under that microscope. Oh, goody.

I flashed out. I found myself on my knees, Elliot bent down next to me.

"What did you see in your," I shot him a warning look, daring him to say the V-word. "Future seeing thingy."

"Future seeing thingy? Really that's the best you could come up with?"

"Yeah, yeah. Get on with the story."

"I think I saw Cleo's boyfriend," I said. "Yup, he's defiantly a scientist."

"This is gonna be fun!" He sounded really excited. He helped me up.

"Fun?"

I had been worrying about today all night. I had a funny feeling about this kid, I couldn't tell why but… I just did.

"Lex, it's not going to be that bad!" Elliot told me on the way to Cleo's house. Will had come home that night to tell us when to get there and the address.

"I'm the future teller here! I would know!"

"Well you didn't see the future about this!"

"Well maybe it's intuition." We got to the front door. Elliot took great pleasure on being the one to ring the door bell. He probably thought I would fake press it so no one would come to the door. Which is a little scary seeing that I was deeply considering it. Cleo and Lewis both opened the door. I saw Rikki and Bella behind them.

"Hi!" Cleo chirped. "Lewis this is Will's little brother, Elliot, and his friend Lex. Guys, this is Lewis."

"Howdy." Elliot said. Why did he have say hello a different way every time? I looked at Lewis, he was defiantly in my… V-word yesterday, but was he the figure in the ones before that? I couldn't tell. Cleo led us up to her room, where Lewis set up camp. There were two microscopes and a variety of slides for them. The girls went downstairs and left us alone.

"So let's get started then." Lewis chirped. Peppy and peppy- they were a perfect match. "So you can see the future?"

"Yup."

"So you have V-"

"They're more like her falling to the ground clutching her head." Lewis looked a bit miffed that Elliot had cut him off, and I felt a bit bad, because I knew that Elliot would never be that rude.

"Yup." I seconded it.

"But what do you see?"

"Umm… well, I saw you after Cleo told me you were coming to town…"

"Me?" He asked.

"Uh-huh. There's never really been anything eventful." I didn't want to tell anyone just yet about the figure. I hoped it didn't count as keeping secrets from Elliot… I mean he knew I was having them and he never asked what they were about.

"So Bella says that you found a way to swim without your tail?" He asked.

"Well, uh…"

"How?" This kid was starting to bother me.

"She can do this weird thing with her hands that makes the water do this thing and then she's not a mermaid when she touches the water." Elliot said. Lewis raised an eyebrow. Yeah, I wouldn't believe he was actually really smart either.

"Can you demonstrate?" Lewis asked, motioning at a beaker filled with water. Reluctantly, I used my power and made it unmermaidy. He looked at it.

"That's it?" He asked.

"Yup."

"Doesn't look like much, does it?" Elliot smirked.

"Well, just to make sure…" Lewis splashed some on me.

"Hey!" He stared where the water had just landed for a long moment.

"Nothing?"

"What did I tell you?" Elliot breathed. Lewis looked very confused.

"But that's not…" Lewis's voice trailed off. "And the girls don't know?"

"Nope."

"They thought it was just a weird moon pool effect?"

"Yup."

"And you didn't tell them?"

"No, she didn't tell anyone but me and she's been able to do this for a month!" Elliot said, slightly annoyed.

"Hmmm." Lewis took samples of it and looked at the water under the microscope. Elliot and I sat there, bored, we both knew we could probably be doing all the same work he was doing, but still.

"So," Lewis finally spoke up. "Do you wear contacts? I have this theory that becoming a mermaid improves your eye-sight. Did you know that Cleo used to wear contacts before she became a mermaid?"

"No, I didn't." I said trying to avoid the topic of contacts.

"So do you?" He asked.

"Do I what?" I asked. Elliot sighed, annoyed yet again.

"Wear contacts?"

"Well… sorta."

"What?" Elliot asked.

"How do you sorta wear contacts?" Lewis asked.

"Well…"

"Wait, since when do you wear contacts?"

"Well…"

"Wait you didn't wear them until you became a mermaid?"

"Well…"

"No, she doesn't wear contacts!" Elliot said frustrated. They both stared at me looking for an answer.

"Now can I talk?" They both nodded. Why not tell all my secrets now? "I do wear contacts, but not for vision."

"Then what for?" Lewis asked. Elliot looked appalled.

"So you don't actually have blue eyes?" Elliot asked.

"No I do! Well I did, it's confusing."

"Did?" Lewis asked. This was all going to fast for me.

"Stop asking questions and just listen!" They instantly quieted. "Thank you."

While they were quiet, I took off my contacts, revealing my purple eyes. Elliot looked appalled, yet again, and Lewis looked confused.

"After I turned into a… mermaid, my eyes turned purple, and I've been wearing contacts over it ever since to cover it up."

"What?" Elliot demanded. Of course he was mad. Lewis sensed Elliot's touchiness on the subject and decided to change the subject.

"So is there anyway you could make yourself see the future?" Lewis asked. Uh-oh.

"Yeah Lex, can you make yourself have a vision?" Elliot said smugly.

This time I saw a class room, I assumed it was the one I would be in in about a week or two, and a boy talking to me and Elliot. He looked… a little creepy. The boy smiled warmly, but there was still something about him. The vision switched. I was in a hallway, on my knees, having a vision, Elliot knelt down beside me and the boy standing behind us. Elliot looked worried, but the boy just looked smug. The vision switched. I resaw Mako, the figure walking closer and closer, but I just couldn't see his face.

I flashed out. That had lasted way longer then it usually did, even Elliot looked a bit worried. I had a huge head-ache, worse then any other time I had had a… v-word.

"Whoa," Lewis "So what did you see?"

"Just stuff about school." I didn't want to mention the figure. We talked for about five minutes after that and then he released us.

We walked outside, my headache still pounding in my skull.

"So much for no secrets!" Elliot was pissed.

"Elliot, please not now." My head felt fuzzy and unclear.

"Why didn't you tell me this? How much could it hurt to tell me?"

"I didn't think it was that important." My headache was becoming unbearable, I started to clutch my head.

"It was important enough to cover up!" I fell to my knees, but not because of a vision. My head was throbbing and my skin was starting to feel cold.

"Elliot…" I whispered.

"Lex? Lex!" I couldn't tell if it was him talking or if it was a dream. I felt cold, and even if I had been having a vision I wouldn't know.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

Great. I couldn't help but feel responsible for this, even though it was probably some weird mermaid junk. One thing I had to ask was why any of the other girls didn't have this whole mind-reading-fainting business going on.

"Lex?" Before I knew it all of the girls and Lewis were behind me. I realized we were still on Cleo's lawn.

"What happened?" Bella sounded worried.

"She fainted." I said.

"No duh." Rikki said.

"Well what do we do?" I asked. I pretended to be sort of bored with the whole thing. I think it was just my way of keeping everyone else calm, even though I was totally freaking out.

"Maybe we should take her to the moon pool." Bella suggested.

"Couldn't hurt." I said coolly. I swiftly picked up Lex, something she would have yelled at me for if she was conscious, and started to walk toward the water with them all. They looked all confused, weirded out that I could so easily pick her up. "What? I do it all the time!" That didn't help the staring much.

We got to what I guessed was Lewis' boat. We all hopped in and swam off to Mako. When we got there, the girls suggested we meet them in the pool, I refused, deciding to take Lex down with them.

They dove in the water and I watched their tails pop out. It was fascinating, but I didn't expect for Lex to turn into one when I dove in with her. I had never seen her… tail. But I didn't let it show, or at least I hoped it didn't show. It still all felt like some weird dream that I would wake up from and Lex would just tell me I was insane. We swam through the pass and into the pool.

"So what was the point of this?" I asked.

"It's worked before." They got out of the moon pool and flipped their tails around, I watched curiously.

"Once we just had to let Rikki float, maybe that will work?"

"What have we got to lose?" I put it her down in the water and swam to the side and jumped up on to the ledge. It felt a little weird to be the only one with out a tail. "So what's being a mermaid like?"

"Well, pretty good. For the most par. When Mako's not doing crazy things or making us do crazy things." Cleo said.

"Speaking of making you do crazy things, what does Lex know about that night?"

"We told her everything, and she didn't believe us." Bella said.

"That sounds like her. Did you tell her about the thing with Will?" I asked. Rikki chuckled.

"Pretty much nothing. She didn't get to hear most of it." Bella said.

"Basically she knows she could have killed Will."

"Well don't tell her that! You honestly think she would believe you if you told her she almost killed her own brother-thing? She's way to proud for that. I don't think I would have believed you." Then I looked at the moon pool, and it was empty. Crap. I dove into the water, quickly without warning. I saw her sinking, eyes still closed. I swam down to her and brought her back up to land.

"Yeah, let's put her in the moon pool! That'll work" I mimicked them. At the same time, Lex opened her eyes. She looked nervously around the room, and clutched her head the way she always did when she had headaches.

"What happened this time?" She said nervously. Rikki sneered at me. Lex noticed them all. "What? Did I almost kill someone again?"

"Lex, about that…" Her tail went away, making me forget to finish my sentence.

"We should get her home." Bella said. "You go, we'll wait for Lewis."

We dove under and swam to the shore. We climbed out of the water.

"We need to talk." We both said at the exact same second. I couldn't help but grin a little, and she shot me that "really?" look, but wound up smiling, too. My smiles are infectious. We walked home in silence, waiting for privacy. Mermaid issues were just something you didn't talk about in public. It was getting kind of annoying to keep a secret. I mean, I guess the actual mermaids have it worse with the whole, "touch water, get a tail" deal.

We got to the house and went up to Lex's room. She made me wait while she got out of her wet clothes.

"You first." I said when she walked out. She sighed.

"Okay, it's about my future seeing… thing. I keep seeing this… figure… a boy…"

"Yes?"

"I'm at Mako and… he just keeps getting closer and closer, but it's so dark and I can't tell who he is… and I can feel myself being horrified."

"Is that what you saw at Cleo's?"

"Every time you say the V-word it happens." She must have seen the look on my face because she added, "Don't even THINK about it."

"What about the eye thing?"

"What kinda freak has purple eyes!" she obviously wasn't happy with her new eyes.

"The kind that's a mermaid and can see the future…" She glared at me.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you…"

"There are things I haven't told you, about, that night." She stayed quiet, she knew what that meant.

"Everything they told you is true. Really, I know how it sounds, but…"

"No!" she cut me off. "Why would I hurt them?"

"Apparently anything can happen under the influence of the full moon."

"They said that I almost killed Will."

"Well… you saved him, too." I told her the whole story, and she couldn't believe it.

"There's no way I could do that! I mean, how? Why would I try…" her voice trailed off. "I'm a bad person."

"Well you're not REALLY a person." She wasn't amused.

"I tried to kill four people in one night!"

"Three of which weren't really people…"

"I'm serious! Moon or no moon, I tried to kill them! There has to be a reason for that!" I loved seeing her this way. I don't mean that I love to see her distressed; well I do… but not the point! She's always so closed to other people, but with me, she was real. That's how I knew I would never hold keeping secrets against her or trying to kill people against her. I just wish she knew… how I felt.


	11. Elliot Revealed

How on earth could I have done that? There was just something about this whole moon pool junk that didn't add up. Why would I have tried to kill them? How could I have saved Will? Why didn't I remember any of this?

"It's not your fault." Elliot reminded me. His voice was smooth and relaxing, the way it always seemed to be, but it just didn't comfort me the way it usually did. Usually he knew when things were going to be okay, he knew the answers. But this time he didn't, this time no one did, and it lost effect.

"I just don't understand…" My voice trailed off. And then something started, at first, I saw blankness, but the vision cleared in and I saw everything.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

I watched her hold her head and I knew exactly what was happening. I sat and waited for it to be over, but it didn't end. I waited for five minutes, and she stayed, still. It looked like she was in pain, I couldn't stand it.

"Lex?" I said softly, "Lex, please?" no answer. Maybe there was something she didn't tell me, maybe there was something the other girls knew that could make this stop.

"Will?" I knew he would come. "Can you come here?"

WILL'S P.O.V.

"Will?" I heard Elliot's voice call. "Can you come here?" I noticed his voice wasn't coming from his room, but from Lex's room. I ran upstairs and let myself in. He and Lex were sitting down against the bed. Elliot had his arm around her, and I noticed that she was holding her head. Elliot turned his head.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know," he looked worried, "She's been like this for a while, do the girls know something I don't?" It looked like he hoped there was, which was weird because I thought he hated when Lex kept secrets.

"I don't think so, but I'll call and ask." I walked out of the door and got my phone and dialed the number I knew by heart.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Bella?"

"Yes?"

"Has Lex told you guys anything lately?"

"Umm… no. Why?"

"Well, it looks like she's having a vision, but it's not going away."

"We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay."

BELLA'S P.O.V.

It was weird to ring the door bell of Will's house. I was so used to walking down to his little dock house, in fact this was the first time I had ever been in his real house. I would be a little more excited if I wasn't worried about Lex.

"Hey." Will answered the door.

"How is she?" I asked.

"No change. Elliot's freaking out."

"Do you think she'll snap out of it?" Cleo quibbled.

"I know just as much as you do." Will answered. I was scared for Lex, and I was all the time, she just wasn't handling this as well as we all had. Even Rikki was worried, and let's face it, Rikki hates people.

Will led us upstairs, and into what I assumed was Lex's room. I saw Elliot holding Lex close, both of them sitting against the edge of the bed.

"How's she doing?" Will asked.

"I think it's getting worse," Elliot sounded distressed, "She's cringing and she looks like she's going to scream."

"It'll be okay, she can't stay like this forever, right?" Will said, trying to calm Elliot down. Obviously, that just made him wonder if she would be like that forever. It was so sweet how much he cared about her, and I could only hope that Will felt the same for me.

"Maybe this is just like what happened before?"

"No, it's different… I can tell."

"Why does she always seem to be fainting?" Rikki asked. Elliot turned and glared at her in a way I had seen Lex glare at him before.

"No." Lex whispered, alarming Elliot. It got louder and more desperate. "No, no!"

LEX'S P.O.V.

Why was this happening to me? Why couldn't I just have a tail? Why did I have to have these friggen visions? Did I do something to deserve this pain?

I saw the moon pool, and I heard what I was saying.

"_You know too much."_

_ "What?"_

_ "You know too much."_

_ "Lex, stop!" _

_ "You were in my way."_

I kept seeing more, everything felt so familiar. Was I really the going to do this? There was just something that didn't add up.

It started to hurt, more and more and I just couldn't stand it. I wanted to snap out of it, couldn't Elliot do something? I knew he couldn't, but I could hope…

Even though each image was being etched into my memory, I still couldn't focus on what was going on. I honestly couldn't even believe that I was about to kill the girls in my vision. Then Elliot came in, I saw him rush to me and he looked deep in my eyes with such desperation. He stopped me dead in my tracks. Elliot, always being my hero, always saving me.

Then I had a vision within a vision.

"No. No. No!" I yelled with every ounce of strength I had left. This couldn't happen.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

I couldn't watch this, I just couldn't. I sat there, knowing she was in pain, and did nothing. We sat silently for an hour and hoped for the best. She occasionally spoke very softly, but I think I was the only one who heard. I was beginning to feel like Edward hovering over Bella and watching her sleep. Only, she was the immortal one.

Finally she opened her eyes.

"Lex!" I pulled her in for a hug, "What happened? Are you okay? What did you see?"

She breathed hard, still stunned at what just happened.

"It's okay." She still couldn't talk, and she looked just as pained as she did when she was having the vision. Err… the v-word.

"I think we should give her some space." Will said softly. They all got up to leave and at the door he turned to me, looking at me as if I should leave, too.

"He… stays." Lex finally muttered.

The door shut, and we were alone. It took everything in me not to ask a million questions, but I knew I had to wait for her to talk first.

"Elliot?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I-I… saw…" She stopped, looking for the words. "The moon pool and I was torturing Cleo and Rikki and Bella and you were there and I saw Will dying but then we saved him…" she stopped dead in her tracks. "omigod."

"You saw…"

"Resaw…"

"That night?"

"Did all of that really happen?"

"Sorry…"

"But…" She cringed holding her head.

"Are you okay?"

"Sorry, just a headache."

"You haven't had one of those since boarding school."

"Umm… sure. Whatever makes you feel better." She looked up at me.

"I forgot how pretty your eyes were."

"Oh come on, you didn't even know the difference."

"I did self consciously."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"No, really! I used to look into your eyes and feel… important and… safe, and lately, they've just been… cold."

"BS."

"Really! There so pretty."

"Well don't get used to it. Contacts go back on tomorrow."

"No, leave them!"

"No way! No one will notice!"

"They. Are. Purple. PURPLE."

"Pushaw."

"You should go to bed."

"Well you should, too…"

"Oh c'mon. You know I don't do sleep."

"I know, I know. G'night."


	12. Perfect day with a strange ending

**Hi guys! Make sure you all review. Anyways, even though Lex currently doesn't have an IPod, I thought I should give you an idea of what she listens to. So this is going to be a little feature I'll do every once in awhile, so you know where I'm getting some of my chapter titles from. Here's what I'm currently listening to (and I imagine Lex is).**

**NEXT TO NORMAL! **

**You probably don't know what that is… well it's a Broadway musical. Here are some personal favorites if you have some time to kill. I'm the one, I'm Alive, Super boy and the Invisible Girl, Make up your mind/ Catch me I'm falling, Wish I Was Here, and Better then before. NONE OF THESE ARE VITAL TO THE PLOT. I just thought I would include them… ALSO, they are a little inappropriate.**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elliot asked.

"Just say it." I answered.

"You do it."

"I'm not sure that will work…" He stared intently at me, waiting for me to say it. "Fine, vision." Nothing. "See, it doesn't work if I say it."

"Are you really going to make me say it?"

"Oh just say it!"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"But…"

"Look, if I don't learn to control this now, I'll be the crazy girl who starts holding her head in agony that passes out in the middle of class."

"That only happened once…"

"But how do we know that it won't happen again? Elliot it needs to stop."

He looked pained, like I was torturing him.

"Vision." He said unwillingly.

I phased in, and tried desperately to open my eyes. I didn't remember what I saw, but I eventually did get my eyes open.

"Again." I said, determined to get a handle on this. He sighed.

"Vision."

We did it over and over again, it took an hour and a half, but I eventually could go without even closing my eyes. I flinched, but hey, it was progress, right? I was mentally tired, and did have a splitting headache, but when Elliot asked me this, I couldn't say no.

"Lex, can we go swimming… with your tail?" I was caught totally off guard.

"Sure… if that's what you want." We got changed and walked to the dock. He dove in first and motioned me to come in. I dove in, unsure. When I popped my tail, Elliot was left in awe.

"How could you hide this from me for so long? Honestly, I don't think I could have."

"It wasn't easy."

"It's just… wow." I would scold him for not being more original then "wow" but I let him off the hook because I knew how he felt.

"Are we going to gab or swim?" He answered by diving down deep. I followed. We wordlessly decided to take it easy and just enjoy everything

I had always been to busy swimming to see the beauty of the Gold Coast's oceans. The water was a translucent teal, colored with bright fish and oceanic plants. It was amazing, and even more amazing that I could share it with Elliot who was just as amazed as me.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

It was all so beautiful and pure, but the most fantastic was part was her. Her tail flicking in the pure water left me with sheer amazement. I wondered if she noticed all the things I noticed like how she barely needed to breathe, or how fast she could probably go with that tail. But I was glad she wasn't noticing that kind of stuff, she looked like she was having so much fun, more fun then I had seen her have in years. Her hair floating up with the water and her beautiful purple eyes contrasting with the teal ocean water. Everything was peaceful and serene. We both emerged to the top of the water.

"Let's see how fast your tail can go. Race you to Rikki's?" She smirked and dove under. Then came the best, and most shocking, part, Her speed. With a flick of her tail she must have been halfway there. I smiled to myself and went after her as fast as I could.

She was waiting for me, having used her power she was wet without a tail.

"Hey slowpoke."

"Okay you totally gotta teach me how to do that."

"Get a tail and we'll talk." She smirked at me. I got out of the water and we walked into the little café. I saw Bella sitting with Will, they were talking and laughing. They reminded me of Lex and me.

"You look exactly like Bella; she could be your sister!" I instantly regretted saying it. Lex was a little touchy on the subject, seeing she was adopted. I mean, it wasn't like we were looking to adopt a kid my age, but when my family found out she was an orphan, a word that I was forbidden to use, it just made sense. We treated each other more like best friends then siblings, and I defiantly didn't look at her like a sister… I loved her in a much different way.

LEX'S P.O.V.

I wish he hadn't mentioned that, but I was in to good of a mood to let it upset me. I was so happy that I even willingly made small talk with Bella and Will.

But on the way home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I tried to occupy my brain to keep myself from thinking about it. Elliot knew he had crossed the line, and I knew that he knew that it was on my mind.

I found myself sleeping that night, and I dreamed in visions. I went out of my room, down the hall, down the stairs, down to the basement, to a box, with a file. I picked up the file right before I woke up. I knew what I had to do,

I followed the dream down to the basement, walking quickly, quietly, and carefully. I saw the box. I reached in and found the file. It was labeled "Alexa's Adoption Papers". I stared at them for a long moment, deciding weather to open them or not. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and looked in. The first thing I saw was just a bunch of paperwork, I flipped through the papers. Then I saw my birth certificate. I saw the names "Edward and Rachel Hartley." _Hartley_… where _did I know that name from?_


	13. More secrets?

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating, I've been on vacation and stuff. Still on jetlag from it. There was absolutely no WiFi any where. It was terrible. But, I got a lot done and hope to post it soon!**

**Keep reading and reviewing! **

Throughout the next day I proudly blocked off my visions, all four of them. I thought it was a little weird I was having so many of them, but I jumped at the chance deflect them. I really did need the practice.

But that wasn't the only thing occupying my brain. The fact that I had just figured out who my birth parents were, kind of freaked me out. It didn't change anything, and that was what freaked me out the most. They were just names on paper, insignificant and plain. In movies, it's like revealing the world's biggest secret but really it didn't give the life altering effect you would think it would. But still… the name Hartley did sound familiar.

With everything else that was going on, I decided not to tell Elliot. I think that it would make him feel like he had brought the whole thing on. So we continued our day as normal. We swam, we went to Mako, and had lunch at Rikki's. Even though there was a seldom feeling about school starting soon, we still managed to have a great time. We saw the girls at Rikki's, and they invited me to their next full moon sleepover tomorrow night. Little did I know what was in store for me that night.

I fell asleep again that night, and I had a vision in my sleep. It was its way of getting back at me for ignoring it before.

I saw a paper; it looked like paper work, being filled out. A hand wrote their name in the box it read "Bella Hartley". They moved on to the next box, the parent's names box. "Rachel and Edward Hartley." Then the vision switched. I walked into Rikki's, and was instantly mauled by Bella. She spoke, three simple words.

"Oh, Lex! I can't believe it!"

I woke up, finding Elliot by my side.

"You were screaming again."

"What?"

"YOU. WERE. SCREAMING. AGAIN." He yelled like I was stupid.

"Yeah, I get that part. Thanks for the concussion. I just don't know why I would be screaming during that."

"What'd you see?" I paused, unsure. "Lex… what did you see?" I sat there, debating in my mind weather or not to tell him. "Lex, no more secrets, remember?" I sighed.

"Bella is my sister." I blurted out.

"Are you not over the whole "she looks like she could be your sister" thing?"

"No, really! I saw it!"

"Well maybe it was out of context."

"No! Elliot I have proof!"

"I know it was a stupid thing to say, but you don't have to torture me about it!"

"I don't care about that! I'll prove it-" I was cut off by Will when he walked in, his eyes tired and heavy.

"Guys! It's three in the morning! I have training soon! What could possibly be so important that you have to talk about it right now!" Elliot and I exchanged looks.

"She's claiming that Bella is her sister based off of one of her stupid visions."

I couldn't fight this one, it was more forceful then the other ones, and it hurt to much to try. I resaw all the paper work, and Bella hugging me and telling me… and after that I saw the figure, yet again, moving closer and closer. I opened my eyes, seeing Will looking very confused. Stupid Elliot saying the v-word all the time.

"Is that true?" I was torn. I can't believe Elliot would say that. But what bothered me even more was that neither of them believed me.

"Y-y-yes." He started at me with disbelief. "Great, another person who doesn't believe me."

"Well it's ridiculous! Why would I believe you?" Elliot said, each word stinging.

"Wait, Elliot chill. Could you prove it?" If that's what it took for them to believe me, I would do it.

"Yes, but we have to be quiet." I led them all the way to the basement. "This is it." I opened the folder and showed them the names.

"And how does this prove anything?" Elliot asked. Will knew though, I could tell by the look on his face.

"Elliot… It proves everything."

"What? How?" Will pointed to the names.

"Hartley is Bella's last name. And it says here that she was born in Australia. Bella lived here when she was three… and Lex is three years younger then Bella."

"Okay, that's a little stockerish but… no. There's just no way."

"Elliot you said it yourself. She couldn't just be my sister, she is."

"I have to go call Bella." Will said, pulling out his phone.

"No! I mean, can't it wait?"

"I can't hide this from her! She'll be so excited!"

"Oh, why not?" Elliot chimed in.

"No!" I practically screamed. "Just… no. I can't deal with that right now."

"But…"

"Dude, tell and she will rip your head off. No joke." I glared at him. "That stare, right there! That's the first sign!"

"Look, can we just please keep this to ourselves for a couple of days? She'll know soon enough, I just want to… figure all of this out." Will looked torn, and I felt for him, truly, I did, but I just wasn't ready to have a sister… or another family for that matter. Will, Elliot and their parents were my family.

But my question was, why would they put me up for adoption but keep Bella? It didn't quite make sense to me. There was something I felt like I was missing. We went up to bed, and I thought about it all night, my brain to occupied to accidently fall asleep. I just had to many questions and no answers. Stupid good for nothing visions.

"Can't I please stay home?" I begged.

"No, we do not want a repeat of last time." Elliot said.

"But I was there last time."

"Yeah, yeah, you just don't want to go over there knowing that your Bella's sister and sit in her house with the people who…" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing what he had just said. "Lex… I'm…"

"No it's fine. Just… fine."

"Sorry."

"Can we just drop it?"

"You know this is for the best, right?" I sighed.

"Yeah…" We got to the house.

"Now go in to that sleepover and have a good time!"

"Wow… encouraging words there." I said sarcastically. He rang the door and walked away, waving. I wasa caught off guard when Bella's parents opened the door.

"Oh, hi! Come in! You must be Bella's friend! Come right in, their all upstairs. You know where it is right?" I nodded, afraid to say anything that would make her talk more. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could and power walked to Bella's room. Could she really be my mother?

"Hey, Lex." Bella welcomed me. She and Cleo were doing their toenails and Rikki was looking through a magazine. I must have looked a little freaked out. "Are you okay?"

"Yup." The night went by painfully slow why they did all of their girly crap, which Rikki didn't look to happy about. It was times like these when I wished that Elliot hadn't stomped on my IPod. I yearned to escape their stupid conversations. Apparently Rikki used to date this rich guy, Zane, who turned out to be a total butt face, so they broke up and now he is trying to prove himself. Also, Lewis was staying for a while because his boarding school had a different summer break. And not to mention Bella talked obbsesivley about Will. I guess I couldn't blame her but still, it wasn't what I necessarily wanted to hear about.

They did pay a lot of attention to me though, watching, waiting for me to do something. But nothing happened. No falling asleep, no visions, no nothing. I think this surprised them because they looked over at me more and more frequently. It was starting to get really annoying, and I wished that I could be any where else.

"So… Lex… What do you like to do?" Bella asked awkwardly, trying to include me in the conversation.

"Um… nothing in particular." She looks at me, her eyes asking for a better answer. "I swam a lot before… and I listen to music…"

"That's it?"

"Well, back at boarding school we really didn't have the time to…"

"But I mean, is there nothing else?" This was starting to get extremely awkward. Was there something wrong with that?

"Well school work was a priority." I said firmly, making it clear that I didn't want to talk about it any longer. She took the hint, and I realized that it made me angry that she had acted so surprised. The rage burned in me… and I couldn't tell why, but the fury was just building and building. I longed for Elliot, he would calm me down. I just didn't understand why I was making such a big deal out of something that little.

Then it hit me. Will told her. Why else would she be curious about that? She probably wanted to know if I was anything like her, if it could really be true.

"He told you didn't he?" I demanded.

"What?" I stayed quiet. Bella continued. "What did he tell me?" But all of a sudden I couldn't focus on that; I was busy warding off a vision.

"Lex?" Cleo asked accusingly. I started to get distressed, I couldn't fight off this vision much longer, and I could tell it was important; it was eating at me, being forced upon me. I let go and let the vision fill my eyes.

I saw the figure getting closer, but it flashed to something new to quickly. I saw a boy, a boy I had seen before in a vision. I was reseeding this part, I was having a vision, and I had fallen to my knees, Elliot crouched next to me. The boy grinning behind us grinning a terrible grin, I watched as my vision ended, a look of shock and realization swept across my face. Then I saw the figure again, still almost being able to see his face, but just not quite.

I flashed out. I looked around, wondering what they would ask first. About what I had seen, or what I had said.

"I'm sorry… I can't…" I got up and made a break for it before they could respond. I sprinted back home and let myself in. I closed the door and fell down against it. Then it opened again behind me, nearly giving me a heart attack.

"Lex? What are you-"

"We have to talk," I cut him off, "now." He heard the urgency in my voice and followed me up to my room.

I told him about everything. I told him about the boy, and his terrible grin . I told him about the anger I felt, and how I was afraid of it.

"I'm sure it was just an anticipation of the vision." He had said. I didn't know, but I hoped I would never feel it again.

The next day, Elliot and I went school shopping. I couldn't wait for school to start; it gave me a place to belong. A place that could occupy my mind from a variety of things. I just hoped that there would be no mermaid business. I knew that there was no way for it to just go away, that it would distract me constantly, but I had to push past that. I had to be ready for the challenge.

We decided to go to Rikki's on the way back. But when we walked in, I was greeted by a bear hug from Bella.

"Ummm…" I started.

"Oh, Lex!" She yelled excitedly. "I can't believe it!"

"Ummm…"

"So that's why you ran last night! That's what you didn't want to tell me!" I just sat there, not being able to find the words. I knew what she knew. "Oh, you should have told me, but I don't care. I can't believe I have a sister."

Will. It was plain and simple. I would have to kill him later, but now I had other things to deal with. The first thing being what to say.

"Um… yeah. It's unbelievable." Then I noticed Elliot, he looked a little hurt. I knew he was disappointed that this all was happening, that now I had a family. I hoped he knew that he would always be my only family, at least to me.

"But here's the question," Rikki said, interrupting Bella's giddiness. "Why did they keep you and not Lex?"

The thought obviously hadn't gone across Bella's mind. And then a look of realization came across her face.

"I was supposed to have a sister," She said, slightly confused, "But… she died."

"What?" We all said simultaneously.

"Well… they told my parents she was dead. They never said how, so we assumed it was just when a baby stops breathing, or chokes on its own saliva. Crib death. But they never showed us the body. They just told my parents…"

Her voice trailed off, not wanting to finish.

"That sounds a little fishy to me." Elliot couldn't help but suppress a giggle at that. I elbowed him.

"They were devastated. For years. They threw themselves into their work, and decided to never try again. It hardened them. I mean, I was only three, but I heard about it from my aunts."

I had aunts. I guess that shouldn't be such a weird thing, but it just seems weird to think that now, I have a more family then I know what to do with. Was that really what I should be thinking about? I mean, I just figured out that I've been "dead" for years, and I'm more interested in the fact that I have aunts? What is wrong with me sometimes?

"But how could I be…"

"I don't know." Bella answered. I realized that we were the only two talking, and everyone was just watching. "I'm going to talk to my- err our- parent's about this."

I sighed, thinking this was all happening to fast. We said our goodbyes and I left with Elliot.

"Our parents… that's just so weird." I said to him.

"I know. I almost can't believe this is all happening. It feels like a weird dream."

"Your dreams must be pretty crazy." Every time he didn't want to believe something, he tried to convince himself it was a dream.

"You have no idea."

"Well, enlighten me." He laughed at this. "What?"

"Oh, it's just so weird that you don't know about dreams, with your whole no sleep thing."

"Well I'm weird. How many times have we used that word in this conversation?"

"Four times. Including when you just said it." I laughed at him. I hoped this would never go away. The way that even when my life and his life were completely insane, he could still find a way to make me laugh about it.


	14. Trust me, I've seen the future

We walked to school in silence, Elliot looking slightly lethargic. Will was with us, too. Although we would be in a special program, because our boarding school was much more intense, and we learned a lot more, we would still be attending the same school.

We were the last ones there. I guess in a group of overachievers, you can expect them to get there early. I counted to make sure there were sixteen of us. There was.

"Hey." Elliot said plainly to a boy at a desk casually, as though he had known him for years.

He responded by not responding. "Mind if we sit here?" Elliot asked, as if he had been just as friendly to us. The boy just stared at us, it almost looked like a glare. "Cool."

He stared at Elliot for a second longer, and Elliot took a seat two down from him, leaving me the seat in-between. It was something so simple, but it was sort of unlike him not to be all buddy-buddy with someone that he had already been so friendly to. And he was kind of a jerk, too. I found myself disliking him.

"Okay class," The teacher started. "welcome, hope your summer was good. Just a note, these seats will be permanent. Okay, let's hurry up and take role so we can get started." She said snappily. I could tell she was going to be one of those teachers that didn't waste anytime. "Elena?"

"Here." I noticed the boy was staring at me.

"Josh?"

"Here." Why was he staring at me?

"Karen?"

"Here." I tried to ignore it.

"John?"

"Here."

"Damon?"

"Here."

"Henry?"

"Here." What's his deal? Why is he still staring at me?

"Rielly?" I expected a girl to chime up, but no one responded. "Rielly? Rielly?"

"Here." The kid next to me said in a low muffled tone. He was so busy staring he missed his name. Great; just ten minutes in I had a stalker.

"Pay attention!" She scolded. "Amanda?"

"Here!"

"Sam?"

"Here." That's it. I'm just going to stare back at him.

"Elliot?"

"Here." Oh god, he was from my vision! I could remember a boy standing behind me and Elliot… could that be Rielly? Why had he been grinning?

"Alexa!" It was obvious the teacher had been yelling my name, I had been to lost in thought to realize it.

"Oh! Umm… here." I said, embarrassed. Elliot turned and grinned at me mockingly and shook his head. I elbowed him in response. But that didn't get my mind off Rielly. I turned and peeked at him once more, and he was grinning his grin, confirming my suspicion. I couldn't tell if he was grinning at me because I had also not heard my name, or if there was something else. I stared at him questionably, and he looked like he suspected it. Weirdo.

We finished role and got started. You would think that you wouldn't do much on the first day of school, but you would be wrong. We started units in every subject and got homework.

I ignored Rielly for the rest of the day, and he ignored me back, which was fine by me. Preferred even. I told Elliot about it on the way home.

"I really don't like Rielly."

"Well you really don't like people."

"That's true… but really."

"Why?"

"Well, I had this ummm… v-word about us." I admit

"What? When? How did I miss that?"

"It was a while ago, it didn't occur to me that it would have any significance later."

"What was it?"

I explained it to him and he listened hard, showing that he thought it was very important. He was such a drama queen sometimes.

"That's weird."

"Yeah, I know. Why do you think he would be grinning?"

"I dunno, maybe he was excited about you being able to see the future?"

"Elliot it was not an excited grin, it was more… more…"

"What, evil?" He scoffed.

"Well… yeah."

"That's ridiculous."

"Well have I been wrong before?"

"No, but I've never really seen you be right before, either."

"Hey! That's not true!"

"Suuuuure, it's not." He said sarcastically.

"What about the whole adoption papers thing?" I said defensively.

"Well that wasn't necessarily the future…"

"Well I saw Bella hug me at Rikki's."

"Well even I could have predicted that."

"Are you questioning my mad skills?" We walked in silence for a little till Elliot spoke up again.

"I got you a present." He said quietly.

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, I guess it's more of a repayment."

"Let me guess."

"IPod." We said simultaneously. He dug through his bag and pulled out the little white box.

"You shouldn't have."

"Well…"

"No, I mean you shouldn't have broken it to begin with…""

"Hey!"

"I'm just playing with you. Thanks."

"Your welcome." He placed it in my hand. I noticed it was blue, which made me laugh.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing… it's just… blue."

"What's wrong with blue?"

"Nothing, it's just the color of…"

"Water. Yeah, I know. Do you not like it?"

"No, I love it. Thanks."

He continued to stare at me. Forever. I'm serious, there is something wrong with that boy. Elliot of course just thinks I'm crazy. But I keep seeing that vision, and I don't know why I keep seeing it. That malevolent smug grin of his seemed to be haunting me every where I went.

But I had other problems to deal with, and I couldn't waste time dwelling on that. Like how next week is the full moon. Of course I have to go to the girls' pathetic little slumber party again, but at least this time I'll have my IPod. But things are akward between me and Bella right now, I wonder if her parents know about me. Scratch that, I really don't want to know.

This sleepover was frighteningly similar to the last.

"Lex, what have you been seeing in your… visions-" I couldn't even hear the end of the sentence, I had already been pulled out of reality.

Of course I saw Rielly again, the more I saw him the more I disliked him. Just when I thought the repeat was about to end when he uttered four perfectly simple words.

"So now you know." He said it in his grim voice, but his voice was raised in a smugly confident way I had never heard him talk before. Know what? I phased out of the vision.

"Lex?" Bella said, worried.

"Are you okay?" Cleo chimed in.

"What did you see?" Rikki asked.

"Nothing, just… nothing."

"Uh-huh. Sure." Rikki responded sarcastically.

"It's just about some boy at school."

"Oooh!" Cleo cooed.

"A special boy?" Bella hinted.

"No! A… weirdo boy." I defended myself.

"Really?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Was that a question?" Rikki asked.

"Never respond to a question with a question." Bella lectured playfully.

"Didn't Rikki just…? Never mind. His name is Rielly and he's a creeper. End of story."

"It doesn't sound like the end of the story if you just saw something about him." Rikki teased.

"Seriously, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Oh, come on what did you see?"

How was I supposed explain what I saw about him? I mean, they have no reason to care about it. It's really nothing.

"Really, nothing. Just him asking a homework question."

"Yeah, uh-huh, cool, sure." I put on my headphones and got ready for a long night.

BELLA'S P.O.V.

"I worry about her." Cleo said, looking at Lex, who was sleeping with her headphones on.

"Me, too." I say, the concern audible in my voice. "I don't kno what to do about her. How am I supposed to tell my parents that their daughter is alive? Her death changed them, hurt them. And I think this might hurt them even more, finding out she's been alive all these years, and that they just… left her on her own."

"I understand, but I don't think that it's fair to keep it from them." Cleo responded.

"You're going to have to tell them sooner or later." Rikki added.

"Well what am I supposed to tell them? Do I just come right out and say it? I just can't!"

"Your going to have to, you know." Cleo said. I sighed, I knew she was right. "Hey, I'm going to go get my stuff. It's downstairs still- I forgot to bring it up."

"Oh, me too." Rikki said. "Will you be fine up here alone?" I nod. "Okay, be up soon."

They left. I should have gone with them. Then, a sudden gust of wind came from the window, opening the curtains. It revealed a plump glowing moon.

My eyes were fixated on it. No! I scolded myself mentally. Don't look!

I turned away hastily, but found my eyes lost in the moon's reflection in a water bottle peaking out of Lex's bag. I let myself fall under.

CLEO'S P.O.V.

"Oh, what are we going to do?" I asked Rikki. "You know she wont tell them by herself."

"I know, but she's going to have to."

"Should we come along and help her?"

"No, I think that would just make it worse. We can't be there for everything." Then the door opened.

"Oh, hi girls!" Bella's mom said, as her usual chipper self. "Our party was canceled, so I guess we'll just have to stay here, tonight!"

Crap. As much as I liked Bella's parents, I didn't want them in the house. Things got crazy during full moons. I do admire Bella's mom for putting on a happy face after all that had happened. Bella's dad still looked… I don't know how to describe it, but it was like his face was permanently serious, but then you look into his eyes and see a softness.

My thoughts we're interrupted when Bella came down the stairs.

"Hi, sweetie! Our party was canceled, so we're staying home tonight." I looked at Bella. She looked sort of checked out. I watched her open her mouth to talk, unaware of what she was about to say.

"Remember my little sister?" She said simply. I watched her mom's eyes widen. "Yeah, the dead one."

"Bella!" Her dad said in a low sharp voice. "You know better then-"

"Better then to ask about her?" She interrupted. "Because I'm not asking. I'm telling. That girl upstairs? She's your dead daughter."

"Bella!" Her dad's voice boomed. "Stop this right now! Your making things worse!"

"Well I'm only telling the truth, I just thought you should know."

"Bella…" I could see tears well in her mom's eyes. "Please don't…"

"It's the truth! Tell them, guys!" Someone saw the moon.

"It's true," Rikki spoke up. "there's proof. She has a birth certificate and everything, it has your names on it."

"No… she's… d-d-d-" Bella's mom was crying now.

"Dead?" Bella filled in. "No, she's not." Something changed in her mom's face.

"Bella stop this now! This is cruel!"

"Fine." She said simply. She walked over to the door and walked out.

"Young lady you get back here this instant!" Her dad yelled. We ran after her and followed her out.

"Great, that went really well." Rikki sighed.

"Someone got a glimpse of the moon." I said. "Bella, you need to go talk to your parents. Apologize."

"Nah." She waved me off. "Let's go to the Moon Pool!" She said, excited.

I saw her parents follow us out. This was just swell. They're going to think she's crazy.

"Bella, we can't! Now act normal in front of your parents if you don't want our secret to get out!" Her parents had caught up with us.

"Bella! You are coming home right now! Then, you are apologizing to your mother!"

"Hmmm…. Nah, that doesn't sound like fun. I just want to have fun! We're going to Will's house! He's fun!"

"No we're-" I tried to say.

"Yes, we are. We're going to go get the papers to show you proof. So you can just go home." Rikki said. God she is such a good liar. I should remember that.

LEX'S P.O.V.

I woke up panting, half expecting Elliot to be next to me. I fell asleep. Crap, again. What had I dreamed? It all came rushing back to me. I had dreamed of Bella telling her parents about me… but she was being rude, and really insensitive. Her mom was crying and her dad was crying. Well, I guess our mom and dad. I still can't get over that. But then everyone went to Will's house, but nothing happened there. Then her parents went home and she went to Mako. Something happened there… something bad.

I looked around and made myself aware of where I was. Bella's room. But where was everyone? My eyes wandered to the curtain, I couldn't see out of it, but I could tell it had been open.

I went downstairs hoping to find them, but when I got to the door I saw Bella's parent's walk through the door.

"Is it true?" Bella's mom said.

"What?"

"What she said. Is it true?" What she said? She didn't say anything… oh god. It happened. That was how she told her parents. Why would she have done that? Oh god the curtain! She saw the moon!

"I have to go." I said avoiding eye contact. I ran out the door and to the beach. I jumped in. I knew I would be faster on fins, even though I would have rather used my legs- it's so weird to have one leg… fin… thing- but I knew what I had to do.

I was faster then them. Swimming wise, at least. I saw them swim in my… recollection of what happened two full moons ago. And I knew I was way faster. Probably because I had done a lot of swimming before, and I was already fast.

I tried to remember what I had seen, what commotion had gone on. It felt impossible, like that entire dream was just a dream. I got to the moon pool- I could remember enough to know what happened had happened there- but it was empty. Was I too late? Or too early. I waited to find out.

I thought really hard about it, but I couldn't recall anything. I wished someone- anyone –was here. I could prompt them to say the v-word, and I could have a vision about it.

But there was no one. No one. And why should there be? I mean it's a hidden cave with a magical pool, you don't find it unless you're meant to find it.

Was I meant to find it? No, that's not important right now. Right now what matters is finding out what's happened or what's going to happen. I knew what I had to do. I was going to have to make myself have a vision. I didn't know how yet, but I've controlled them before, in other ways, but still.

"Vision." I whispered to myself. Nothing. "Vision." Gradually I got louder. "Vision!" To a point where I was screaming. "VISION!"

I gave up. Nothing is going to happen, absolutely nothing. I sighed, showing my defeat. Then it hit me.

I saw the girls and myself in the moon pool, I, of course, was the only one with legs. Bella looked to be unconscious, her eyes closed, just floating. I could see everyone talking, I couldn't quite hear it, but I saw it, and occasionally someone shaked her, willing her to wake.

But then something surprised me. Something changed, I couldn't tell what. Not that I needed to, because a second later Bella was turning to water, and then human, and then water, just back and forth.

I flashed out, wondering what I had just seen. But I didn't get to think, because Cleo and Rikki swam in, both pulling Bella along.

"Lex how did you-" Cleo started.

"No time." I interrupted. "Get her out of the water."

"What? Why?" Cleo asked, genuinely confused.

"Just get her out of the water!"

"Lex, the moon pool always helps." Rikki tried to reason.

"I see the friken future, are you really not going to trust me?"

"You just don't-"

"You don't know what's going to happen if you don't get her OUT OF THE WATER!" I've never heard my voice so loud. I was trembling with desperation. Finally they obeyed, and we lifted her out of the water. I backed up to the wall of the cave, layed my head back, and sighed with relief.

"Lex… what was going to happen?" Cleo asked, sounding so innocent and scared.

I cought my breath, which I hadn't realized I had lost. "She… was going… to… turn to… water." I panted.

"Again?" Rikki said.

"Again? I asked horrified.

"It happened before, we pulled her out of the water just in time, but a couple more second in, she could have been sea water." Cleo explained. I sighed, relieved.

"I'm just glad she's safe."

"I really said that?" Bella was appalled that she had said what she said about me to her parents. "And you saw it all?" I nodded sadly.

We had relocated in Cleo's room; Bella had just come out of the phase of the moon, no pun intended. Bella was horrified to face her parents again. I could understand why. In fact, if it wasn't for me, she probably would be right now. I begged the girls to not take me back to her house. There was no way I could deal with her parents, either.

I wonder if they believed her- if they had showed her the paperwork at Will's house. I bet she sounded pretty crazy. Well, actually I KNOW she sounded pretty crazy. I have to remind myself that I practically witnessed all of it. I guess I saw it all before it happened. I'm just glad I did see it in time, and got there in time. What if this time she really had turned to water? She was my only sister. My only blood sibling, I barely know her, but still.

But there was no time to dwell on that. I had other places to be. Like at home, catching up on homework. Always the way I wanted to use my time.

**Sorry I took forever. I think the fact that it's 3,000 words makes up for it. ;)**


	15. How many things can happen in a day?

BELLA'S P.O.V.

I had been at Cleo's house and at Rikki's and swimming, and really anything to keep from going home. I was just dodging my parents and sneaking around. I felt like a spy in my own house. But now, it's Sunday night. I can't be out- it's a school night. Just got to suck it up and face the music.

"Bella." My mom greeted me as I walked in. Her voice was as hard as stone, and her face gave no expression. "We need to talk about what happened last night." I followed her in to the kitchen. We always had a family dinner on Sundays, so the food on the table was anticipated. I knew that they had been waiting.

"Before you say anything," My mom started "I have a question. Is it true?"

"Mom…"

"There's an obvious resemblance, she's the age she would be… Is it true?" I inhaled deeply.

"Yes."

"But how?" My mom's unemotional look had melted away into an emotional wreck. Her face was twisted to a look of agony and tears were welling in her eyes.

"I… I don't know." I stammered. "But I know it's true. I've seen the birth certificate."

"Why didn't you tell me, Bella? How could you keep this from me? And the way you told me was… was just…"

"Cruel?" I filled in. She was at a loss of words. I realized my father's absence, and I assumed he was off doing business somewhere.

"Yes. It was." There was a pause. "I have to meet her, talk to her."

"I think I might be able to get her to agree to that." Or I think I can get Will to get Elliot to make her agree to that.

"Bella?"

"Yes, mom?"

"I think she should live with us." Now that, I wasn't sure she would agree to. Period.

LEX'S P.O.V.

"Okay there is no way Bella said that! She would never be that rude to her parents! Especially in front of you and the other girls." Elliot said as we walked in to school.

"Well she did."

"Yeah, sure." At that moment, Bella walked up to us.

"Lex, can I talk to you?"

"Um, sure." I said.

"Seeya in class?" Elliot asked.

"Yup. Be there soon." He walked away, leaving us alone.

"So, I talked to my mom," Well, we all knew that was coming.

"How was she?"

"Well, she asked about you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She really would like to meet you, so before you say no please just think about it?"

"Umm, I'll think about it."

"And Lex?"

"Yeah?"

"She thinks you should move in with us."

I walked in to class, and although the bell hadn't rung yet, I might as well have been late. I hurried over to my seat, ignoring and shaking off rude glares as I walked over. I sat in my usual seat between Elliot and Reilly, who I am still convinced is stalking me. He stares at me. I've learned to ignore him, and he knows I'm ignoring him, so he keeps looking. That vision, I wondered what I "knew", and when I would "know" it.

I was a little stunned through out the day. About what Bella had told me. Elliot could tell something was up, but I refused to tell him anything, and insisted it was nothing. All through lunch he tried to hint at things that could be wrong, but he really had no clue. If he knew what Bella had told me, he would just be crushed.

I was surprised he didn't hold the whole "No secrets" thing over me, but he just knew, and Elliot always knew, that whatever Bella has told me had freaked me out. He also knew that if he played his cards right that he would know pretty quickly. Oh, I just can't think of him knowing. Even if I don't move in… wait, did I just consider it? No, that was just hypothetical… I mean... no. There is no way I'd move in with them. No. _No_.

It was already a dreadfully long day, and when the teacher asked us to stay after class, I nearly groaned at her and rolled my eyes.

We talked casually until everyone left, acting as if we were just going slow. We went up to the desk with the other remaining student. Reilly.

"I would like to give you a special assignment." said as we walked up to your desk. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble." She gave us a tight smile. "It's just an essay, three pages. Just a basic research paper, nothing special. Another teacher asked me if she could have a few examples for a class. She doesn't think her class will get the assignment fully. Have them in as soon as possible? Friday at the latest."

"Cool." Elliot said, chipper.

"M'kay." I followed. Reilly simply nodded.

"Okay you're free to go. Remember to bring your math textbooks home." Elliot and I left immediately, we both just wanted to get home. We we're silent. The only thing I knew he wanted to talk about was the only thing he knew I didn't want to talk about. And then I felt it.

I tried my hardest to deflect my vision, resulting in me stopping dead in my tracks.

"Lex?" Elliot turned to see what was going on. "Lex, snap out of it. I know you can." But I couldn't. The vision won.

I went straight to the figure. It got closer and closer, and stepped into the light. I made out the face.

No.

"So now you know." Reilly said smugly, just as I had heard him. I found myself on my knees, just as I had seen, and Elliot was kneeling beside me just as I had seen.

"How did you…" My voice trailed off, still stunned and confused. I couldn't quite fit together what I had seen.

"Lex, what's going on?" I shook my head, unable to speak.

"Okay this is getting a little pathetic, so I'm just going to do all the talking." Reilly said, still smug. Then, Elliot started holding is head. His face twisted in anguish, I watched as he fell to his side, still holding his head in agony.

"Elliot?" I could hear my voice shaking.

"I want you to remember what I can do to your little boy friend here. Okay?"

"He's not my- what are you doing to him?"

"All in good time, my dear. All in good time."

"Stop it! Stop hurting him!"

"Oh, don't worry. He wont remember any of this when he wakes up."

"That doesn't help me not worry! Stop hurting him now!"

"Or what?" I stared at him looking for mercy. "That's what I thought. Nothing. Well, if you want this to stop you'll do everything I say."

"I'll do anything."

"That's what I was hoping you'd say." He paused, and a wicked laugh escaped from his mouth, he obviously had a sick happiness from Elliot's pain. "You're going to move in with your sister."

"What?"

"That's right, my dear."

"Stop calling me that!" He just laughed. "If I promise to move in with Bella, will you stop hurting him?"

"Yes. For now, at least."

"Not for now. Forever."

"You're really not in a position to bargain. You're going to move in with Bella, and you're not going to tell him about what just happened with you and me." I looked at Elliot. Like he would believe me anyway.

_No more secrets, remember?_

The words replayed in my head. I made a quick decision, that keeping secrets from him wouldn't hurt him as much as what Reilly was doing to him now.

What was Reilly doing to him? And how?

I pushed thoughts out of my head. "Fine, I'll do it! Just stop hurting him."

"So he has to think it's your decision." He grinned a malevolent grin.

"Okay, okay!"

"Also, he won't remember seeing me or being… well… being that," He said, gesturing with a nod at Elliot, who was still cringing, "so he'll just be kneeling down because he just saw you have your VISION."

It got me instantly, bringing me to my knees. I resaw everything. I opened my eyes to see Elliot kneeling beside me, obviously unaware of what had just happened, the pain that he had just felt.

"Lex." I looked behind me. Reilly was gone. "Lex?"

"Uh… umm…" What was I going to say? I couldn't tell him the truth; it would hurt him much more.

"I've never seen one of your… v-words so bad. What did you see."

"Reilly." He never said anything about telling him this.

"What."

"The figure."

"No." I looked over at him. "No, that couldn't be… I mean… why would he be…" I looked at him sadly, wishing I could tell him everything. "What, Lex?"

"We need to talk." I managed. He helped me up and I realized I had a splitting headache. That vision must have been important, but I wish I knew what context it was in. As we walked out of the school, I tried to think of what to say.

"Elliot… I talked to Bella today."

"No, really?" He said sarcastically. "Are you going to actually tell me about it now?"

"Well, her mom wants to meet me."

"That's not so bad. Is that all?"

"They want me to move in with them."

"Okay THAT is crazy. It's not like you would ever do that." He paused. "Right?"

"Elliot…"

"Right?" We stopped walking and stared at me intensely.

"Elliot, I think I should."

"What? No that's crazy. You're joking. Your joking!"

"No, Elliot, I'm not."

"What? But.. why?" I could see the hurt in his eyes. I couldn't believe that I was doing this for him. Reilly has one sick mind, doing this to me. I still need time to think about that.

"I'm their daughter, Elliot. It would hurt them more knowing I'm alive and am choosing not to see them."

"You can't just… leave!"

"Elliot, I have to." I couldn't look him in the eye.

"No you don't! This is absolutely your choice!"

"Yes, it is."

"This isn't you! You would never choose to do this!"

"Choose to try to have a normal life?"

"To choose to hurt your best friend. Your brother."

"Elliot, it's not like that. You don't understand…"

"Your right, I don't!"

"I'm sorry, I can't explain!"

"What happened to no secrets! Why must I always remind you that!" we had stopped walking by now and we were staring deep into each others eyes. I silently begged him to stop this. "Lex… what is it? You can trust me- you know that." He took my hands. I felt tears welling in my eyes.

"Elliot, I know I can, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I can't. I don't expect you to understand, I wouldn't either, but I need you to know that this is for your sake."

"Is Bella making you keep secrets from me? What is she making you do? What does she have over you? Another secret?"

"Elliot no- it's not like that!"

"I'm going to go talk to her!" He ran ahead of me, in the direction of Rikki's. I ran after him, hoping I could get to him before he could talk to Bella and the gang. Then they would be on my case, too…

"Elliot, wait up!" My fear gave me an adrenaline rush, and I caught up with him just in time. I grabbed his arm and ran in front of him. We were standing on the deck, so close, and I had no idea what to say to make him not say anything. I had no choice but to use improvisation.

"Elliot, I need you to trust me now more then you ever have before. It is killing me not being able to tell you, but I need you to know that this is for your sake." I kept my voice low and cool. "Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with Bella, and you talking about this with her, will just make this situation worse for both of us." He sighed.

"Okay, I trust you." He said reluctantly. "But as soon as you can tell me anything about this, I am trusting you to."

"And, Elliot?"

"Yeah?"

"You have to not do anything drastic. That hot head of yours is going to get you in trouble one-" my voice trailed off as a random wave splashed through the dock, soaking our feet. A wave of terror washed through me as I dropped by backpack and sprinted to the end of the dock, pushing aside anyone in my way, and dove full force into the water.

ELLIOT'S P.O.V.

I watched as she ran to conceal her tail before anyone could see it. I have to admit, it took me a couple seconds to register why she was running for her life. We would have been totally screwed I was the mermaid (err, merman?) of the two of us. Luckily, I wasn't.

But now it was my turn to be worried. I noticed a familiar face coming toward me.

"Elliot, what happened?"

"Umm, water?"

"Why did she run for the water?"

"Umm, so everyone wouldn't see her?"

"Well why didn't she do her thing with water?"

"What thing?" What on earth was he talking about?

"Her water thing… you know what, never mind. I'll go get her."

"No, I'll go. Would you mind taking our bags back home?"

"Okay sure. Don't be gone to long though."

"Kay, I won't be."

"Oh, and Elliot? Can you talk to her about meeting her parents? Bella really worried that she won't."

"Oh, she will all right… she will…" Then I remembered the pain in my heart, deep in my sole. It was worse then any kind of torture that I knew of.

I dove into the water. I was sure I knew where she went.

WILL'S P.O.V.

"Hey, sorry I didn't meet you at Rikki's, I had to stay after."

"It's cool. I wound up dealing with Lex and Elliot drama any how."

"What happened?"

"Nothing really, I'll explain when I get there." I hung up the phone with Bella and walked over to Rikki's.

LEX'S P.O.V.

"Okay, so dock is off the list of safe places?"

"I guess so… that was so weird, it just came out of nowhere!" I said to Elliot as we walked into Rikki's, all dry. We decided to get something to eat really quick before we went home.

"Yeah… really…" We slipped into a booth and looked at the menu. I looked up randomly to see a dark-haired pale boy knock over a pitcher of water all over Rikki.

Rikki saw me out of the corner eye, and looked over. Her eyes were silently begging me to do something. But what? I wanted help, but by the time I would have gotten to her, it would have been to late. She turned and dashed into her office, slamming the door behind her.

Then I had a vision. The boy who spilled the water was yelling and Elliot was…

I phased out. I didn't know who that guy was, or what he wanted, but I knew that I had to get Elliot out of here as soon as possible, or this time his hot headedness was really going to get him in trouble.

I dashed out of the café, with Elliot in tow.

"Elliot c'mon, we have to go!"

RIKKI'S P.O.V.

I had made it just in time. Honestly, a millisecond longer and I would have been dead meat. Thank god I made it. Why hadn't Lex helped me? Why had she just let me change like that? A wave of fury washed through me. Speaking of fury, Zane walked in.

"You idiot! You know to be more carful!"

"I know, I'm sorry!"

"Why on earth-"

"Who was that girl?" He cut me off.

"Which girl?"

"The girl you were staring at."

"She's Will little brother's best friend." I decided he didn't need to know she was also Bella's little sister.

"Why were you staring at her like that?" I sighed.

"She's a mermaid, too. She has some weird power that she can make water not change us."

"And she didn't help you?"

"She doesn't like me."

"That's no excuse! There is no way I am letting this fly!" His fury raged through his voice as we walked out of the office. I didn't care what he was going to say to Lex. Hey, it's only fair, she doesn't care about me, I don't care about her.

LEX'S P.O.V.

"Why do we have to leave?" Elliot whined as he followed me out.

"We just do!" I yelled, trying to get away quickly.

"Hey!" A voice boomed at me. I was to late. "Why didn't you help Rikki?" the boy from inside yelled.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Her boyfriend, who happens to know all about your dirty little secrets." He grabbed my wrist and gripped it tight. "Why didn't you help Rikki?"

"Dude there was nothing she could do! And it was you who spilled the water!" Elliot defended me.

"She could have stopped it!" Zane boomed.

"Leave her alone!" Elliot yelled back. His grip loosened.

"Or what?" And here it comes.

"Or this!" Elliot spat back at him. He punched him in the face, square in the jaw.

"Big mistake!" Zane breathed back. From there, it turned into a full on fist fight. Zane punched him back and Elliot knocked him to the ground.

"ELLIOT!" I cried. "STOP IT! ELLIOT!"

But he was in a different world. Nothing I could have done would have gone through to him. I still had to try though. "ELLIOT!"

And then, out of the blue, Will was there. He tore Elliot off of Zane and lifted him to his feet.

"He's not worth it Elliot." He said calmly. Elliot was shaking, and I watched his face as all of his actions came clear to him. He turned shamefully and broke out into a sprint.

Will pushed Zane against the side of the wall and held him there with his arm.

"Don't mess with Elliot ever again, or I won't stop him! Are we clear? Are we clear?" I had only seen this rage in him once before. And I didn't like it then as much as I didn't like it now.

"Yes, I understand." He spat, retreating back into the café.

"What was that?" Will yelled, turning to me. "Why didn't you stop that? Or did you forget how to use all of your powers?"

I stared at him a long second, hurt and shocked, and then turned around and sprinted down the dock and dove into the water.


	16. It's not over yet

**Hey guys, I know it's been a while. I know it's sorta a lame excuse but I've been really busy. Plus some writers block and I got all my electronics taken away for a week (that was hard for me). And I'm going to put out a new story for "I Am Number 4". The book, not the movie (come on, let's be classy here). So read on!**

As I started swimming, Reilly flooded into my mind. What is he? How could he make Elliot forget things, or torture him for that matter?

Wait, he made Elliot forget things. That means he could have screwed with my mind, too. No. No, he couldn't have right? I mean, if he could mess up my memory, why would I remember him doing that? Unless he wanted me to know that.

I got to Mako and dried off. I didn't want to go in the moon pool, it was to obvious of a place for anyone to find me. I just wanted a place to be all alone.

"Hello." I whipped around to see who it was.

"Reilly?" I said, alarmed.

"In the flesh."

"What are you?"

"There's not really a name for it. Special, I guess you could call it."

"What did you do to him?"

"I took something from his memory. It hurts when it happens, but I can make you forget the pain, so it's not a problem."

"What did you make him forget?"

"Seeing me. I just dragged it out so you could suffer watching him."

"Why?"

"So you would take my offer seriously."

"Well it worked, are you happy?"

"Not quite. Not till I explain this some more. Like I said before, I'm… special. You're special, too."

"Huh?"

"It means you have special powers, just like me. Like this." He picked up a sharp rock and made a big scratch across his arm, leaving a bloody gash. Then, it instantaneously closed up, not leaving a single mark.

"What just happened?"

"Your turn." He started to walk over to me.

"What? No, don't!"

"Too late." And it was. He cut through my skin swiftly and it closed up, just like his. I simply blinked at it.

"W-w-what?" I stammered out.

"See? Special. Just like me."

I broke out into a run. I didn't consult my mind before doing it, my body just… moved. Before I knew it I was deep in the forest, pushing my way through branches as I went along.

"You can run but you can't hide!" Well then that's what I'll do. I'll just keep running. "And I can assure you I am faster." Adrenaline coursed through my veins when I heard his cruel voice again, only this time closer.

I knew I couldn't keep running. I was going to have to try and hide. I started to look for possible hiding places. There, of course, are millions of places to hide in a jungle, but barely any that wouldn't be found out.

I ran into the deepest part of the jungle. It was moist, the air muggy, and every move gave me a cut or a thorn. Then I had a vision. A strong one.

I was trying to run and deflect it at the same time. My mind was in overdrive, not sure what to do. But the vision won.

It happened in flashes, like I was only repelling it halfway. They were so brief and frequent, it was too short to actually make out anything that was happening. I gave up and let the vision come, still trying to run. Trying being the key word.

I fell face flat in to the cool earth.

"This is getting old." A voice said. I shot up and looked to see where it was coming from. Reilly was no where in sight however. "I want you to end this little chase. Turn around go home. I'll talk to you soon. There's more I need you to know. Concerning your… move."

I didn't know weather to believe him or not. I lay frozen in place debating with myself on getting up. For all I know he could be waiting for me behind one of those trees, waiting to scare me. Or maybe I really did escape him and successfully hid from him and he was angry and wanted to trick me to come out.

But against my better judgment, something in my head told me he wasn't playing games with me. Something told me he didn't have time for games. Call it future-tellers intuition, but I just… knew.

I picked myself up and examined the damage. My clothes coated with mud and leaves, not to mention my hair in its mucky state. I was a total mess. I felt areas where bruises were forming. But the strangest thing of all was the blood stains. Little red splotches on my clothes surrounding cuts in the fabric. Where a bloody gash should be. But there wasn't. What Reilly had done could have been… real? Not some trick?

No, I convinced myself, It must be some kind of wood that leaves a stain when it cuts your clothes.

I realized how ridiculous it sounded, but I was pretty much able to believe anything as long as it didn't mean that… that… I don't even know how to explain it but, as long as it isn't true.

I wondered how far I had run. MY limbs were aching, exhausted from the sprinting of my fear. Fear that hadn't faded. I started on my long walk home.

BELLA'S P.O.V.

"This doesn't make any sense, I mean, why wouldn't she help you?" I say to Rikki while we walk out of her and Zane's office.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like her." Cleo agreed.

"Well she did it." Rikki snapped. Then Zane walked in. He made no eye contact and made a zip-line to his office.

"Wait, didn't he just spill the water on you? Where's he coming from?" Cleo asked. Rikki sighed audibly as Will walked in and quickly walked over to us."

"I just had to pull Elliot off your boyfriend." He said to Rikki.

"What?" We say in unison.

"I don't know why, but Elliot looked about ready to kill him. If I hadn't tore him off Zane when I did…" His voice trailed off, not wanting to say the possibilities. "Do you know what happened?"

We explained to him what had happened. He blinked hard, deep in thought.

"What?" I ask.

"So Lex didn't use her power?"

"Did I not just tell you that?" Rikki yapped at him.

"I think that her power is… broken is something like that."

"Why do you think so?" Cleo asked.

"Well I saw her on the dock with Elliot, and a wave splashed through, and instead of using her power she bolted into the water."

"You're probably right then. That just leaves one question. Why?" I say

"Well it seemed like it wasn't not working but more like she had forgotten how. She and Elliot looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them about it."

"How could she have forgotten?"

LEX'S P.O.V.

When I finally got home, I was greeted at the door by a vision. Nothing special or scary, just a vision of what Elliot's face was going to look like in the morning.

I walked up the stairs with two ice packs and knocked on Elliot's door. There was no response.

"Elliot, I know you're in there."

"Go away." A muffled voice answered.

"I'm coming in."

"No, do-"

"Too late." I said opening the door and walking in.

"You are the last person I want to talk to right now."

"The last person?" He answered with a glare. "You mean you would talk to Mrs. Applebottom over me?" Mrs. Applebottom was the headmaster of our old school. She was an old snippy lady who is probably the most strict person you will ever meet.

"Yes, I would rather talk to Granny Smith then you." Most of the kids called her "Granny Smith" because of the brand of apple. Elliot and I being among those students.

"Fine, we don't have to talk. I just wanted to bring you these."

"I don't need those."

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't."

"Look, I know what your face is going to look like tomorrow. Trust me you do." He finally looked up at me. I could already see a bruise forming on his left eye. "Not that what you look like now is much better."

"Fine. What's the second one for?"

"Your punching hand. You always bruise up there."

"You know way to much about me, do you know that?"

"Yes. But the same goes for you, too. So, I guess you're talking to me now?"

"Not completely."

"I can't believe you just pounced on him like that."

"Well he's a jerk."

"Well eventhough I would have rather you hadn't, thanks for sticking up for me."

"Your welcome."

"I can't help but say I told you so."

"Huh?"

"About your hot-head getting you in to trouble?"

"You know, you could have stopped at thanks."

"I know." I smile at him a little. "Well I gotta do my homework."

"Can I ask you a question before you leave?"

"Sure."

"Why on earth are you coated with mud like that?"

After bathing and changing I finally had to just stop and let myself think: What had happened today? I swear if this was Elliot he would be balled up in the corner telling himself it's just a dream. But really, could you blame him? None of this made any sense.

"Lex?" There was a knock on the door. "Can I come in?"

It was Will. I quickly got up and grabbed my IPod off the night stand. I put one ear bud in so he would think that I wasn't just sitting there.

"Yeah?" I say while opening the door.

"Look, I'm not sure what's going on. Can you please tell me why you're not using your power?"

"Umm… huh?" He came in and shut the door behind him.

"Why aren't you doing your thing with water?"

"I really have no idea what your talking about."

"Why didn't you make it so the water wouldn't turn you today at the docks or with Rikki?"

"Will, I have no idea what your talking about."

"How could you have forgotten?" He stormed out.

_ Forgotten._

The word rang in my ears. So he had screwed with my memory.


End file.
